LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



ChapfiLy. Copyright NolZlflt 
ShelO.H-£.% 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



WINNING WHIST 



A HARMONIOUS SYSTEM OF 
COMBINED LONG-SUIT AND SHORT-SUIT PLAY 

OF THE 

GAME OF WHIST 



BY 

EMEEY BOARDMAN 



Each new step we take in thought reconciles twenty 
seemingly discordant facts as expressions of one law. 
... By going one step farther back in thought, discord^ 
ant opinioBS are reconciled, by being seen to be two ex« 
tremes of one principle.— Emerson. 




NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1896 



Hj^'^'®" 



fv. 



G-K/2-T-/ 



Copyright, 1896, by 
Charles Scribner's Sons 



' CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Introductory o . . o 13 



CHAPTER H 
The Leads c . . . » ....,.,. 18 



CHAPTER III 

The Leads (Concluded) <, . . . 26 

RULES o . . . . o . . ..... o 26 

INFERENCES , o . „ . 28 

SUGGESTIONS 29 



CHAPTER IV 

The Play , 30 

first hand 32 

second hand 36 

third hand 40 

fourth hand 43 

5 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER V 

PAGE 

The Play {Continued) 46 

TRUMPS 46 

SPECIAL LEADS IN TRUMPS 48 

THE CALL 49 

THE ANSWER » 52 

THE ECHO ' 52 

THE SUB-ECHO 53 

THE FORCE 53 

CHAPTER VI 

The Play {Continued) 55 

POSITION c 55 

TENACE 56 

THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND'S HAND 60 

THE VIENNA COUP 62 

FINESSE 62 

UNDERPLAY , 65 

HOLDING-UP 66 

PLACING THE LEAD 66 

CHAPTER VII 

The Play {Concluded) 69 

UNBLOCKING 69 

THE DISCARD 70 

THE ELEVEN RULE 72 

CUI BONO ? ; 73 

CHAPTER VIII 

Play of the Weak Hand 75 



CONTENTS 7 



CHAPTER IX 

PAGE 

On Chance and Chances 87 

combinations 102 

probability of winning tricks . . . . c o 105 



CHAPTER X 
Play of the Eldest Hand 108 

CHAPTER XI 
Finally . . o « ..... . 154 



PREFACE 

Whist, for the majority of players (those who 
neither live to play Whist nor play Whist to live), 
must ever be not so much a Greco-Roman strug- 
gle of intellects as a pleasant recreation and 
amusement. The prevailing proneness to treat 
of the modern game as one for experts neces- 
sarily tends to alienate from it those who have . 
neither the time, patience, nor inclination to 
undertake an exacting course of study in order 
to become qualified to amuse themselves at cards. 

'^ Who will believe that man could e'er exist 
Who spent near half an age in studying Whist ; 
Grew gray with calculation, —labor hard, — 
As if lifers business centred in a card? ^^ 

Ars Tonga, vita hrevis. The essentials of the 
game, constituting "old-fashioned Whist'' as 
generally (but imperfectly) played, are the same 
as taught by Hoyle, the " father of the game," the 
originator of the '^ scientific game '' of one hun- 
dred and fifty years ago. Tradition, teaching 

9 



10 PREFACE 

throTigli successive generations, has popularized 
the elements of the ^^ scientific game '^ of our an- 
cestors. What was good Whist then is, in the 
main, good Whist now; nothing new has been 
substituted (except in matters of detail), but de- 
velopments and additions have been made. 

That the opening play of a hand should gen- 
erally be made from five or more trumps or 
from the longest plain suit held by the first 
player, and that the original lead by each sub- 
sequent player should be subject to the same rule 
(except in so far as it should be modified by the 
results of the preceding play), was an established 
principle in the days of Hoyle. The combined 
play of partners' hands and the conveying of in- 
formation to partners by certain fixed methods 
of play are equally old. So, too, the discard 
from the short suit when trumps are favorable 
and from the long when adverse. All of these 
have been dwelt upon and made more promi- 
nent, not invented, by the modern authorities ; 
the extreme development of the modern " signal- 
ing game " constituting the greatest modification 
of the older system. 

The " Call for Trumps," the system known as 
the ^^ American Leads," with the resulting 
^^ Eleven Rule," comprise the great innovations 
since the days of Hoyle, Payne, and Matthews. 
Yet Deschapelles, whom Clay styled '^ the finest 



PREFACE 11 

Whist-player beyond any comparison the world 
has ever seen/' must have laid the foundation of 
his reputation without the aid of either ; and even 
to-day persons may play excellent Whist without 
reference to the modern system ; yet the fact re- 
mains that they must play a vastly better game 
than their opponents in order to win from those 
who avail themselves of that system. Hence, 
being (as herein presented) simple and easily 
learned, it is worth learning. No one can be a 
finished player without such knowledge, while its 
possession gives to indifferent players a decided 
advantage over their superiors who ignore it. 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY 

There are at least three distinct games of 
Whist : Long Whist, ten points ; Short Whist, 
five points ; and American Whist, seven points. 
In the two former, honors are counted ; in the 
latter they are not. Whist is also very fre- 
quently played for continuous points without 
reference to games. There are, too, the so-called 
Duplicate, Progressive, and Drive Whist; the 
last, it has been claimed, evidently receiving its 
name from its unfortunate tendency to drive 
good players crazy. The Germans have a mon- 
grelized game combining the principal features 
of Whist and Pitch. There is also a game called 
Scotch Whist, which Cavendish says bears about 
the same resemblance to Whist that the ^' Scotch 
fiddle" does to a violin. Whist, honors not 
counted, as a game or for continuous points, is 
the subject of this treatise. 

^^ The object of the game is to make tricks.'' 

13 



14 WINNING WHIST 

Tricks may be taken with the winning cards 
played of the suit led, or by trumping (ruffing) 
plain suits. It has been truly stated by one 
writer (Matthews) that ^*aces and kings will 
make tricks, and no skill can make a ten win a 
knave " ; and, with equal truth, by another (Cav- 
endish), that ^' aces and kings are not the only 
cards which make tricks ; twos and threes maj'' 
become quite as valuable when the suit is estab- 
lished, i.e., when the higher cards of the suit are 
exhausted. To obtain for your own small cards 
a value that does not intrinsically belong to 
them, and to prevent the adversary from obtain- 
ing it for his, is evidently an advantage.'' 

The making of tricks through the instrumen- 
tality of "best" cards, or of trumps when void of 
the suit led, obviously does not require skill of an 
exalted order. The obtaining for cards not 
necessarily winners "a value that does not in- 
trinsically belong to them," etc., has exercised 
the ingenuity of the keenest intellects in Whist- 
playing circles for more than one hundred and 
fifty years, " and the end is not yet." 

There are, generally speaking, two methods by 
which tricks may be made by cards to which 
their intrinsic value might not necessarily entitle 
them. One is by the establishment of a long 
suit, the holder being left with the lead after 
the adverse trumps have been exhausted. In 



INTRODUCTORY 15 

this case every remaining (long) card of the es- 
tablished suit may take a trick. To effect this 
purpose the first lead from each hand should 
generally be trumps (from a suit of five or more), 
or from its longest plain suit ; and, in case of 
two suits of equal length, from its strongest, 
that of the two containing superior strength in 
high cards. This course, as contradistinguished 
from ^ Splaying for the odd trick," was styled by 
the earty writers ^^plajdng a great game." All 
modern systems of leading are based upon the 
latter. It is essentially an attack, the play of 
the strong hand. 

^^ Because the good old rule 

Sufficeth them— the simple plan 
That they should take who have the power, 
And they should keep who can." 

The other method comprises the tactics of 
weakness (concealment, artifice, and deception). 
Hereunder comes the taking advantage of posi- 
tion, the most common instances of which grow 
out of holding in one hand the best and third- 
best cards unplayed of the suit led (the second- 
best being in another hand), and kindred situa- 
tions. If this fourchette is held by the last 
player, it constitutes the combination originally 
styled tenace. In this case it is evident that, bar 
trumping, the last player makes two tricks in 



16 WINNING WHIST 

the suit ; while if obliged to lead therefrom, the 
second-best guarded being against him, he could 
make but one. Should the fourchette be held 
by the third player, he may finesse by putting 
on third-best, instead of the best, thus occasion- 
ally ^^ stealing a trick " when the second-best does 
not lie to his left. 

Another branch of this method consists in de- 
ceiving the enemy in the course of the number- 
less accidents and stratagems of the play, where- 
of one instance is underplay. This is holding up 
the best card unplayed in a suit opened by one's 
left-hand opponent and leading a lower one in 
the hope that he, as second player, will play low 
instead of putting on second-best, if in hand, be- 
lieving the best to be behind him, thus giving 
the first player's partner an equal chance to win 
the trick, while the held-up best card still com- 
mands the suit. Another stratagem sometimes 
used, but less often justifiable, is the playing of 
false cards, i.e., cards played contrary to the es- 
tabhshed rules, and so indicating a state of affairs 
which does not exist; which is but little more 
commendable in Whist than is the like in the or- 
dinary affairs of daily life. The extreme limits 
within which such plaj^ is allowable are these : 
when the partner is too uninformed to be de- 
ceived or too weak to be injured by the decep- 
tion ; when the play cannot deceive him, but may 



INTRODUCTORY 17 

deceive the adversary ; and when the hand is so 
nearly exhausted that no harm can be done to the 
partner by deceiving him. Though false cards are 
not infrequent, it has been alleged that ^^ Ameri- 
cans are peculiarly open to the charge of playing 
for their own hands alone.'' 

To sum up : '^ The object of the game is to 
make tricks.'' Tricks may be made by the mas- 
ter cards of each suit, by the long cards of es- 
tablished suits, through tenace and finesse, by 
stratagem, and by ruffing. 



CHAPTER II 

THE LEADS 

In deciding what card to lead from the long suit, regard 
must be paid not only to the establishment of it, but also 
to the possibility of making tricks in it early in case it 
should not be possible ultimately to bring it in. — Pole. 

Whist is a language, and every card played an intelli- 
gible sentence. — Clay. 

A golden maxim for Whist is that it is of more impor- 
tance to inform your partner than to deceive your adver- 
sary. — Ibid. 

The so-called American Leads, in plain suits, 
are admirably devised for effecting the double 
purpose of making tricks early and, at the same 
time, conveying to partner as much information 
as possible concerning cards in hand. The basis 
of the system is a suit of four cards, being the 
shortest long suit that can be held. Its distinc- 
tively American features relate rather to the 
conveying of information than directly to the 
making of tricks. The following statements and 

18 



THE LEADS 19 

explanations concerning this system will be 
much more readily apprehended if the reader 
will examine them with the cards referred to 
before him. 

Let him, then, if he will, arrange in parallel 
lines the following : 

Hearts: ace, queen, ten, nine ; 
Diamonds: ace, knave, ten, nine ; 
Clubs: ace, ten, eight, six. 

From each of these three suits the first lead 
should be the fourth-best card, or lowest. The 
lead of fourth-best, which must always be the 
nine or lower, informs partner that it comes 
from the first player's best suit, and that three 
better ones of that suit are still in hand. Sub- 
tracting the number of pips on the card led (say 
the six) from eleven, the remainder, five, conveys 
the valuable information that five better ones of 
that suit are apportioned to the second, third, 
and fourth players. A glance at the cards in 
hand and those played to the first trick will fre- 
quently locate them very closely. Suppose the 
first trick in play and suit taken by partner who 
leads fourth-best from his own strong suit, the 
trick being taken by his partner, the first player 
or eldest hand. The latter now leads again, let 
us say, from his club suit. The second card led 
must be the ace. This conveys to his partner 



20 WINNING WHIST 

the information, in connection with the first lead, 
that the first player's best suit was one of four 
exactly, headed by the ace (not in sequence), and 
that he still holds of it two cards better than the 
six 5 but that neither of them is the king, though 
the queen or knave, but not both, may be in his 
hand if not otherwise accounted for. Had the 
first player held (and the first lead been from) 
one of the other suits, the information would 
have been more prompt and definite, for the 
nine is properly originally led from a long suit 
only as the fourth-best card of one of the two 
combinations first above specified. Add to each 
of the three suits one or more small cards. The 
suits now comprising more than four, the order 
of leading is reversed. The first lead should 
now be the ace, and the second lead the original 
fourth-best, to which the Eleven Rule still applies 
as to the original holding. The lead of tlie ace 
always indicates a suit of five or more, with the 
possible exception only of ace, queen, knave (with 
or without ten), four, or more. The second lead 
solves the doubt ; if it is the queen or ten, it 
comes from a suit of four cards ; otherwise, of 
five or more. We have now acquired the mate- 
rial for a rule to govern such cases, that rule 
being as follows : 

In all long plain suits headed by the ace, not 
in sequence, (excepting those containing both 



THE LEADS 21 

queen and knave,) from a suit of just four, first 
lead fourth-best and ace second ; with more than 
four in suit, first lead the ace and original fourth- 
best second. 

We will next proceed to establish a rule apply- 
ing to a much greater number of cases. It will, 
nevertheless, prove perfectly simple and easy if 
attacked in the proper spirit. 

^'Tender-lianded stroke a nettle, 
And it stings you for your pains ; 
Grasp it like a man of mettle, 
And it soft as silk remains." 

Let the reader arrange, if he pleases, in par- 
allel lines, these cards : 

Hearts: ace, king, two small ; 
Diamonds: ace, king, queen, one small ; 
Clubs: ace, king, queen, knave. 

From ace, king, four in suit, first lead the king 
and second the ace. Add one or more small. 
The leads are now reversed ] with five or more 
in suit, first lead the ace and second the king. 

From ace, king, queen, four in suit, first lead 
the king and second the queen. Add one small. 
With five in suit, first lead the queen and second 
the ace. Add one or more small. With six or 
more in suit, first lead the queen and second the 
king. 



22 WINNING WHIST 

From ace, king, queen, knave, four in suit, 
first lead the king and second the knave. Add 
one small. With five in suit, first lead the knave 
and second the ace. Add another small. With six 
in suit, first lead the knave and second the king. 
Add one or more small. With seven or more in 
suit, first lead the knave and second the queen. 

Now remove the heart suit and the two re- 
maining aces, with sufficient small ones to leave 
but four cards in each suit, and add another row 
of cards containing : 

Spades: king, queen, knave, ten. 

From king, queen, four in suit, first lead the 
king and second the queen. Add one or more 
small. With five or more in suit, first lead the 
queen and second the king. 

From king, queen, knave, four in suit, first 
lead the king and second the knave. Add one 
small. With five in suit, first lead the knave 
and second the king. Add one or more small. 
With six or more in suit, first lead the knave 
and second the queen. 

From king, queen, knave, ten, four in suit, 
lead first the king and second the ten. Add one 
small. With five in suit, lead first the knave 
and second the king. Add one or more small. 
With six or more in suit, lead first the knave 
and second the queen. 



THE LEADS 23 

We may now generalize. Each one of the 
above-mentioned suits was headed by a sequence 
to ace or king; and, in every instance, from the 
four suit, the king was the first lead, with the 
lowest unplayed card of the sequence for second. 
It may be proper to remark here that, from long 
suits, king is originally led only from a suit of 
four and no more. With more than four, in 
suits headed by those sequences, we have seen 
that the first lead, in every instance, was (with 
the exception of the king above noted) the low- 
est honor of the sequence ; and the second was 
its lowest honor that would leave three lower 
cards of the suit unplayed in hand. In play two 
exceptions are made, viz., if king (led from king, 
queen) wins, next lead the original fourth-best ; 
and if queen (led from king, queen) wins, next 
lead the original fifth-best. Either winning trick 
would indicate that the ace was probably with 
partner; and the low-card lead, second, would 
give him an opportunity to play it to best ad- 
vantage. Suf&cient data have now been secured 
for the deduction of the second rule, which is as 
follows : 

In all long plain suits headed by a sequence 
to ace or king, from four, first lead the king and 
second the lowest unplayed card of the sequence ; 
with more than four, first lead the lowest of the 
honors in sequence (always excepting the king, 



24 WINNING WHIST 

which is originally led only from exactly four), 
and second its lowest honor that will leave un- 
played three lower cards of the suit. But if king 
(led from king, queen) wins, next lead the origi- 
nal fourth-best; and if queen (led from king, 
queen) wins, next lead the original fifth-best. 

We will now make a new " lay-out,'^ and the 
last. Please to arrange, as before, the follow- 
ing-named suits : 

Hearts: ace, queen, knave, ten 5 
Diamonds: queen, knave, ten, nine ; 
Cliibs: knave, ten, nine, eight. 

From ace, queen, knave, ten, four in suit, first 
lead the ace and second the ten. Now remove 
the ten, substituting one small. Here again the 
first lead should be the ace, but the queen second. 
Add one or more small. With five or more in 
suit, the first lead is stiU the ace, but the second 
is now the knave. 

From queen, knave, ten, nine, four in suit, 
first lead the queen and second the nine. Re- 
move the nine, substituting one small. Again 
first lead the queen, but second the knave. Add 
one or more small. With five or more in suit, 
first lead the queen and second the ten. 

The following leads obtain only in the trump 
suit ; in plain suits, in like cases, the original 
lead should be the fourth-best. But in trumps. 



THE LEADS 25 

from knave, ten, nine, eight, four in suit, first 
lead the knave and second the eight. Remove 
the eight, substituting one small. Again first 
lead the knave, but second the ten. Add one or 
more small. With five or more in suit, first lead 
the knave and second the nine. These instances 
constitute the materials from which to construct 
the third rule, as follows i 

In all long plain suits headed by a sequence 
of three or more, queen up or (in trumps) knave 
up, and in like suits headed by ace, queen, knave, 
first lead the highest ; second, the original fourth- 
best if lowest of the sequence and lowest of the 
suit ; otherwise, second, lead the original third- 
or second-best, as may be necessary in order to 
retain at least two lower cards of the suit un- 
played. 

Here it is earnestly recommended that the 
reader should, with the cards again before him, 
repeatedly go over the ground covered by the 
three preceding rules until they are thoroughly 
memorized and understood. This he can the 
better afford to do as the four remaining ones 
will then be found so simple as to explain them- 
selves. All should be memorized ; not a difficult 
undertaking when it is considered that seven 
short general rules, thoroughly mastered, convey 
the full knowledge of all the leads, in plain suits 
or trumps, in long suits or short. 



CHAPTER III 

THE LEADS {Concluded) 
RULES 

Though involving a trifling repetition, for 
convenience of reference all the rules for the 
different leads are here grouped in their regular 
order. 

1. In all long plain suits headed by the ace, 
not in sequence, (excepting those containing both 
queen and knave,) from a suit of just four, first 
lead fourth-best and ace second ; with more than 
four in suit, first lead the ace and original fourth- 
best second. 

2. In all like suits headed by a sequence to 
ace or king, from four, first lead the king and 
second the lowest unplayed card of the sequence ; 
with more than four, first lead the lowest of the 
honors in sequence (always excepting the king, 
which is originally led only from exactly four), 
and second its lowest honor that will leave un- 

26 



THE LEADS 27 

played three lower cards of the suit. But if 
king (led from king, queen) wins, next lead the 
original fourth-best ; and if queen (led from king, 
queen) wins, next lead the original fifth-best. 

3. In all like suits headed by a sequence of 
three or more, queen up or (in trumps) knave 
up, and in like suits headed by ace, queen, and 
knave, first lead the highest ; second, the origi- 
nal fourth-best if lowest of the sequence and 
lowest of the suit; otherwise, second, lead the 
original third- or second-best, as may be neces- 
sary in order to retain at least two lower cards 
of the suit unplayed. 

4. In all like suits headed by king, knave, ten, 
lead the ten ; should it win, next lead the origi- 
nal fourth-best ; should the ace, but not queen, 
fall to the first trick, lead the king second; 
should the queen fall to the first trick, with four 
in suit originally, second lead the king; with 
more, the knave. 

5. From all other like suits lead fourth-best. 

6. With less than seven trumps (unless with at 
least three honors. Cavendish excepts king, queen, 
ten), lead fourth-best. In other cases, lead as in 
plain suits. 

7. From a three-card suit with but a single 
honor, if higher than the knave, lead the lowest ; 
if headed by the knave, the highest ; in trumps, 
the ace. If partner has indicated that the suit 



28 WINNING WHIST 

to be led from is Ms best, lead the highest in all 
cases. With any combination of high cards 
from which a high-card lead should be made in 
long suits, lead as from suits of four. From 
two-card suits lead the higher. 

INFERENCES 

From the application of the preceding rules to 
the long plain suits, inferences may be drawn as 
follows : 

Ace is led only from a suit of five or more, or 
from ace, queen, knave, four, or more ; 

King is led only from a suit of four ; 

Queen is led only from a suit of five or more, 
or from queen, knave, ten, four, or more ; 
y Knave is led only from a suit of five or more, 
or, in trumps, from knave, ten, nine, four, or 
more; 

, Ten is led only from king, knave, ten, four, 
or more ; 

Nine is led only as fourth-best, and must come 
from a suit of ace, queen, ten, nine, or ace, knave, 
ten, nine. 

^ Whenever any one of the six highest cards is 
evidently irregularly led, it should come from 
the head of a short suit. 



THE LEADS 29 



SUGGESTIONS 

Having mastered the leads, it has become 
manifest that they are, as a fixed system, devised 
for the benefit of the partner of the player mak- 
ing them rather than, directly, of the player 
himself. Hence, when playing with a partner 
who understands them, or against opponents 
who do not, it will be well to adhere to the sys- 
tem ; but far otherwise when you cannot thereby 
give information to your partner, but must in- 
form your adversaries. In such cases it will be 
found advisable to mix the leads up a little. 
Any card of a sequence is as good as another 
for the taking of a trick; and one lower or 
higher than fourth-best is frequently quite as 
available for the establishment of a suit. It is 
much worse than useless to proclaim the con- 
tents of your hand in a language intelligible to 
your opponents, but not to your partner. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE PLAY 



The play 's the thing. 

Shakespeare. 

The deal and the lead are the original oppos- 
ing elements in the game of Whist. Here is 
the starting-point of analysis^ the foundation of 
the philosophy and strategy of the game. The 
dealer has the advantage, being the only player 
who is from the first absolutely sure of holding 
a trump or having the last play upon a trick. 
The consideration of the principal advantages 
and probabilities resulting from the deal is re- 
served for another chapter. A few suggestions 
relating to the conventional system of play 
should be made here. 

As before stated, the object of the leads is to 

win tricks and incidentally convey information 

to partner, and the play should be intelligently 

adapted to the twofold purpose. One should 

30 



THE PLAY 31 

never plaj^ at random, but always in furtherance 
of some plan or system. The ends most fre- 
quently subserved by well-directed leads are as 
f oUow^s : 

To draw the adverse trumps ; 

To establish a long plain suit for self or part- 
ner; 

To enable partner to make a small trump 5 

To force a trump from the adverse strong 
trump hand; 

To answer a signal ; 

To take tricks with the long cards of an es- 
tablished suit after the adverse trumps are out ; 

To give partner a chance to finesse ; and, akin 
to this, 

To lead up to a weak suit in the hand of the 
fourth player ; or, 

To lead through a strong suit in the hand of 
the second player ; 

To give the lead to partner ; 

To give the lead to an adversary, that he may 
be obliged to lead up to self or partner ; 

To force a discard. 

Every lead should be made in order to effect 
some one of the above purposes, or some other 
formulated with equal clearness in the mind of 
the player. The foundation of the modern con- 
ventional system of leads and play is the design 
of establishing a long plain suit, bringing it into 



32 WINNING WHIST 

play after the adverse trumps have been ex- 
hausted, and the prevention of success in similar 
tactics of the enemy. It is with reference to 
these points that the following suggestions con- 
cerning the play of the several hands are made. 

FIRST HAND 

With five or more trumps, generally lead them ; 
otherwise, usually lead from a plain suit. Cav- 
endish says, ^' From a well-protected hand con- 
taining four trumps, two being honors, a trump 
may be led originally." There is also good au- 
thority for an original trump lead from four 
when such is the only long suit in hand. When 
not sufficiently strong in trumps to lead them, a 
plain suit must be chosen. Pole and Payne say 
that the opening lead should be made from the 
longest suit ; Cavendish, Clay, and Hoyle say the 
strongest. Length being generally considered 
the principal element of strength (as it is in 
trumps, or plain suits combined with preponder- 
ating strength in trumps), there is practically 
but little in controversy between those authori- 
ties. As between a suit of but four very low 
cards and another of three very high ones. Cav- 
endish expresses a preference for an original 
lead from the short suit ; but he does not clearly 
indicate at Just what point of difference the 



THE PLAY 33 

short-suit lead should, in his opinion, be adopted. 
Some of the American writers have proposed to 
draw the line at a suit of four only, headed by a 
card lower than the nine. The point in question 
may well prove more prolific in debate than in 
practical results. 

With five or more, lead from the long suit, 
and generally with four. Strength in two suits 
being substantially equal, if one (but not the 
other) is headed by ace, queen, or ace, knave, or 
king, knave, it would generally be better to lead 
from that other. If your best suit has been pre- 
viously opened by your right-hand opponent, 
usually open your second-best suit. Payne like- 
wise says, '' Be very cautious how you change 
suits, and let no artifice of the adversary induce 
you to it.'' When leading trumps from five or 
more, it is generally best to continue until one 
of your opponents renounces. 

In returning partner's suit, lead the best un- 
played card if you hold it, or second-best from 
second- and third-best; otherwise, if you origi- 
nally held three, return the higher remaining ; 
and if you originally held four or more, the low- 
est. Adopt the same rule in leading what you 
know to be your partner's strong suit, not be- 
fore opened. But if your partner originally 
leads an ace, return him your best card, if an 
honor, regardless of number. If you have a 



34 WINNING WJIIST 

good suit of your own, generally better lead 
from that once before returning your partner's, 
unless you took the first trick with the ace and 
can return an honor, or took it with an honor 
and can return the ace. This is subject to the 
further exception that, if you are stronger in 
the suit than your partner, you may treat it as 
your own by retaining the strength in your own 
hand and returning to him a low card. 

Should you win the first trick in your partner's 
plain suit with the queen or lower, as your own 
best, it would indicate that the command of the 
suit might be with the second player ; in which 
case it would generally be better to give your 
partner the lead in some other suit, that your 
right-hand opponent may not have the last play 
in your partner's. If possible, always retain a 
small card of your partner's long suit with 
which to give him the lead after trumps are out. 
When at a loss for something better to do, it is 
well to lead a suit in which the fourth player is 
weak or the second player strong. 

For the rest, reference may be had to the rules 
for the leads. But if you have already trumped 
in without trumping out, from a suit headed by 
ace, king, invariably lead the ace ; your partner 
might otherwise trump in to establish a cross- 
ruff. 

The following paragraphs, from Matthews, are 



THE PLAY 35 

introduced in the hope and belief that they will 
be found useful : 

With a strong hand in trumps, particularly if you have 
a long suit, avoid ruffing and, still more, over-ruffing your 
right-hand adversary as much as possible. As this is a 
maxim less understood, less practised, and more indis- 
pensably necessary than almost any other, I will endeavor 
to explain it to beginners as clearly as I am capable : 
Cards being nearly equal, the point to which all the ma- 
noeuvres of a good Whist-player tend is to establish a long 
suit, to preserve the last trump to bring it into play, and 
to frustrate the same play of his adversaries. With an 
honor (or even a ten), with three other trumps, by well C 
managing them^ you have a right to expect success. In / 
this case, do not over-trump your right-hand adversary 1 
early in the hand ; but throw away a losing card, by ; 
which, there remaining but twelve trumps, your own \ 
hand is strengthened, and your partner has the tenace in / 
whatever suit is led; whereas, had you over-ruffed, you/ 
would have given up the whole game to secure one trick. ^ 
But there are reasons for breaking this rule : first, if your [ 
left-hand adversary has shown a decided great hand in 
trumps (in which case make your tricks while you can), P 
or, second, if your partner decidedly means to force you. S 
To understand if this be the case, you are to observe if 
your partner plays the winning or losing card of the suit 
you have refused. If the former, it is by no means clear 
he means to force you, and you play your own game. If 
the latter, you are to suppose him strong in trumps, and 
depend on him to protect your long suit. A due reflection 
on this will convince you of the value of that maxim 
which enjoins you never to play a strong game with a 
weak hand, or vice versa. A few deviations from this 
effectually destroy that confidence necessary between 



36 WINNING WHIST 

partners, and introduce a confusion and consequences 
that cannot be too carefully avoided or too strenuously 
deprecated. . . . 

The attentive perusal (in the mode prescribed) of these 
maxims will, I think, with a little practice, enable a be- 
ginner to play with very good cards to considerable ad- 
vantage. The difficulty of the game does not consist in 
this ; for aces and kings will make tricks, and no skill can 
make a ten win a knave. But there are hands which fre- 
quently occur when skilful players win, where bunglers 
lose their points ; and (unless when the cards run very 
high) it is on the playing of such success depends, viz., 
ace or king and three other trumps, a tierce major, with 
others of a second suit, and a probable trick in a third. 
The player^s plan should be to remain either with the last 
trump or the last but one with the lead ; and to accom- 
plish this last he must not win the second lead with the 
commanding trump, but reserve it for the third. Noth- 
ing, then, but ^ye trumps in one hand can probably 
prevent his establishing his long suit ; for he forces out 
the best trump, and the thirteenth brings in his suit again, 
which (without the lead after the third round of trumps) 
would be impossible. 



SECOND HAND 

Cavendisli says, *^ You should generally play 
your lowest card second hand." But, with a se- 
quence of high cards in a short suit, put on the 
lowest of the sequence if it covers 5 in a long suit 
you may adhere to the low-card play, in accord- 
ance with the general principle that in short 
suits, as in hands weak in trumps, you should 



THE PLAY 37 

play your partner^s game ; in the long suits, as 
in the strong hands, your own. But if your se- 
quence does not head your suit, or with a head 
sequence of three or more, or ace, king, or king, 
queen, better cover in all cases. When playing 
from a sequence at either second or third hand, 
put on the lowest ; at fourth hand, if desirous of 
continuing the suit, you may win with the high- 
est, and return the lowest " to inform your part- 
ner,^' or lead low to underplay your left-hand 
opponent. 

Generally do not cover an honor led with any 
other honor than the ace or the lowest of a se- 
quence to the ace, the principal exception being 
the necessary taking of an off chance for the 
purpose of winning the lead ; but if you hold a 
fourchette on the card led, put on the higher 
card. If the suit can go round but once, put on 
the ace if in hand. If you hold the best un- 
played card of the suit led, second round, gener- 
ally put it on. If you desire to win the lead, 
play for it. 

Holding an honor or ten singly guarded, 
generally play low first round. Your partner 
has the advantage in position, and it is an even 
chance he has a better card than the third 
player ; while, if you expose your weakness by 
putting on an honor, you give your adversaries 
an opportunity to finesse in subsequent rounds. 



38 WINNING WHIST 

In trumps, however, play the singly guarded 
king ; so, too, in plain suits, on the nine led, or 
on the eight when your low card is the nine. 
Likewise, in plain suits, put your singly guarded 
queen on the ten, nine, or the eight when your 
low card is the nine. 

With ace, queen, at the head of your suit, gen- 
erally do not put on the queen first round. 
With ace, queen, ten, from short suits, put on 
the ten ; from long trump suits, or like plain suits 
if strong enough in trumps to lead them, put on 
the ten ; otherwise, in plain suits, the queen. 

Other finesses are rarely justifiable, as evi- 
denced and illustrated by the following anecdote 
from Cavendish's " Card-table Talk,'' concerning 
James Clay, Esq., M.P., the greatest English 
Whist-player of his day: 

The great autliority was looking on at Whist when the 
second player, whom he favored not, holding ace, king, 
knave, instead of playing king, as he should have done, 
finessed the knave. 

The queen made third hand ; ace and king were after- 
ward trumped. 

The player then turned to Clay and asked whether the 
finesse of the knave was justifiable. 

To him the following crushing rejoinder, spoken very 
deliberately at the wall opposite instead of to the querist : 

'^ At the game of Whist, as played in England [pause], 
you are not called upon to win a trick [another pause] 
unless you please.^^ 



THE PLAY 39 

If a fourth-best card is led, and,' by applica- 
tion of the Eleven Rule, you find that you hold 
all the higher cards not in the hand of the leader, 
put on the lowest card that will cover. Atten- 
tion to the Eleven Rule and to the play of the 
first round will frequently enable you to win the 
second trick cheaply, still retaining the com- 
mand of the suit. 

When weak in trumps, unless your partner is 
strong, better not put on the best of an adver- 
sary's suit at second hand unless your partner 
has none of it. 

When, at second hand, you hold none of the 
suit led, with three trumps or less, generally 
trump in ; with four, do not do so unless the 
card led is a certain winner, in which case you 
generally should. It is not permissible to refuse 
to win a trick certainly adverse unless sure to 
make at least two l)y so doing; and Hoyle says, 
^^ When you are in doubt, win the trick." With 
six or more trumps, you may generally trump 
in and trump out ; and with five you may do so 
if you have an established suit ; otherwise, gen- 
erally trump in and lead from your strong suit. 
Whenever, with four or more trumps, you accept 
a force without trumping out, generally trump 
in with the next to the lowest trump. When the 
latter is subsequently played, partner is informed 
of your original strength. You may do the like 



40 WINNING WHIST 

in trumping in when intending to trump out 
with a low card. 



THIRD HAND 

The general rule is for third hand to play his 
best card, or the lowest of a head sequence, to 
his partner's low lead ; but when not attempting 
to take the trick (unless calling for trumps, echo- 
ing, or unblocking), to play his lowest card. 

Holding ace and queen or ace, queen, and 
knave, to a low lead, first round, king unplayed, 
put on the queen, or the knave if in hand. If 
it wins play the ace. No other finesse is con- 
ceded in the first round of partner's strong plain 
suit. In the second round, holding second- and 
fourth-best unplayed cards and with good 
grounds for believing that the best is with the 
left-hand adversary, put on the fourth-best. 
Unless both first- and third-best are with the last 
player, the finesse secures one trick; otherwise 
both are lost in whichever order played. So 
with best certainly at your left, and third- and 
fourth-best certainly against you, holding sec- 
ond-best and others, you may finesse fifth-best 
or pass it if led by your partner, or, of course, 
sixth-best led by your partner when holding 
fifth-best yourself. Otherwise do not finesse in 
partner's strong plain suit unless strong enough 



THE PLAY 41 

in trumps to lead them. But, having sufficient 
cause for believing an original lead to come 
from a short suit, any reasonable finesse may 
be made. Finesse deeply in suits in which part- 
ner is weak, and freely in the adversaries^ suits 
and in return leads of your own if desirable. 

Do not put queen on partner^s ten, and rarely 
on his nine ; unless covered at second hand play 
low. Do not cover an honor originally led by 
your partner except in unblocking ; do not trump 
one unless covered or trumped by second hand. 
You may block your partner^s suit by taking a 
trick with the last card of it remaining in your 
hand, in which case it may prove impossible for 
your partner to regain the lead and continue his 
suit. Play intended to prevent this result is 
called unblocking. In unblocking, with ace and 
one small, cover with ace and return the small 
one ; with king and one small, put king on part- 
ner's ace or queen ; with ace and queen only, to 
partner's lead of ten, put on the ace and return 
the queen 5 with ace and knave, with or without 
one small, put ace on the honor led and return 
the knave. To partner's long-suit high-card lead 
of anything but king, with four in suit, finish 
unblocking on the third round. Thus, play 
third-best on partner's original lead; second- 
best, second round ; best, third round, retaining 
the lowest until the last. This manner of play 



42 WINNING WHIST 

is called the plain-suit echo. With three in suit, 
in like manner finish unblocking on the second 
round, playing lowest third. This is sometimes 
used in trumps or plain suits to indicate three 
trumps and no more ; it is then called a sub-echo, 
of which there is another form. With ace or 
king and one small, if sure of being able to give 
partner the lead in another suit, you need not 
unblock, neither if yourself and partner are un- 
able to bring in the suit if established, nor some- 
times with an unskilled partner. If stronger in 
the suit led than your partner, you may make it 
your own by retaining the strength in your own 
hand ; otherwise finish unblocking with your last 
card of the suit but one, retaining the lowest 
with which to give the lead, to partner after the 
adverse trumps are out. 

When playing from a sequence put on the 
lowest. Always apply the Eleven Rule and 
consult your own hand and the play of second 
hand, in case of fourth-best led, and govern 
your play accordingly. After taking the first 
trick of your partner^s long suit, on retm'uing it, 
lead him the best, or second-best from second- 
and third-best, if in hand ; otherwise, the higher 
of any two or the lowest of any three or more 
remaining in hand. 

When you win the first trick in his long suit 
with the ace and can return an honor, or win 



THE PLAY 43 

with an honor and can return the ace, or when 
your partner originally led the ace and you can 
return him an honor, you should make the re- 
turn before opening your own suit unless that 
is the trump suit. Unless your own plain suit 
is strong as well as long, you need not hurry 
about opening it unless the strength in trumps 
is clearly on your side— perhaps not always 
even then unless it is superior to your part- 
ner's. 

Ten tricks have been played and you remain 
with ace, ten, and one small trump, not the nine, 
knave turned at your right. Suppose queen led 
by your partner and covered at second hand (by 
your right-hand opponent) with king. If you 
take that trick you probably lose the other two^ 
but by playing small you must win them. 
Trumps being out, if satisfied by the play that 
knave and one small remain at your right, the 
like might be ventured in a plain suit. 

FOURTH HAND 

Generally win the trick, if possible, as cheaply 
as you can ] but if it is already your partner's, 
put on your lowest card of the suit ; if you have 
none of it, discard originally the lowest card of 
your weakest suit (unless it leaves an honor 
single or is itself a singleton), but if the strength 



44 WINNING WHIST 

in trumps is against you discard from your 
longest. Winning with the highest of a se- 
quence of three or more trumps and afterward 
playing the lowest indicates that you hold aU 
between. The same might sometimes be done 
in plain suits. 

It sometimes, though rarely, happens that you 
should take a trick already your partner's. For 
instance, trumps are out, and he, as second 
player, has taken a trick in a suit wherein you 
hold ace and one small only, and which is evi- 
dently his only strong suit, and is the only one 
in which you hold a winning card or one which 
your partner can win» Here you should put on 
the ace and return the small one. You thus un- 
block your partner's suit and risk one trick on 
the chance, almost the only chance, of winning 
more. In general, take liberties with your part- 
ner's tricks or suit with caution, bearing in mind 
the old saying that it requires a good player to 
win his partner's trick. 

It may sometimes happen, too, that you should 
refuse to take a trick not your partner's. With 
but three cards unplayed and trumps out, you 
hold the ace, knave, and one small of a suit from 
which your left-hand opponent leads the king, 
from king, queen^ ten. If you win this trick, 
you evidently lose the other two. If you put on 
the small one instead, it is equally evident that 



THE PLAY 45 

you must win the other two. So, too, in the 
trump suit. 

In all the vicissitudes of play and of life, these 
two maxims will be found worth observing: 
^^ First be sure you are right, then go ahead." 
" When you are in doubt, win the trick." They 
comprise the essence of the lives of two men- 
Crockett, who sacrificed his life in the struggle 
for Texan independence, and Hoyle, the ^^ father 
of the game." 



CHAPTER V 

THE PLAY (Continued) 
TRUMPS 

Cavendish says, " It cannot be too strongly 
impressed that the primary use of strength in 
trumps is to draw the adversaries' trumps for 
the bringing in of your own or your partner's 
long suit.'' 

With five or more trumps, generally lead them 
originally. 

With but four, an honor, and three three-card 
plain suits, or a well-protected hand in all plain 
suits, or with an established suit in your own or 
your partner's hand, you may venture a trump 
lead. 

With three trumps or less, you may lead them 
if necessary to stop a cross-ruff ; Matthews says, 
"if your adversaries are playing from weak 
suits." 

Your partner having dealt you a strong hand 

46 



THE PLAY 47 

in all plain suits and but one trump, if that 
should be a high one, you might be justified in 
leading it originally, as it is nearly an even 
chance, under such circumstances, that your 
partner will hold five or more, and more than 
three to one that he will hold four or more. 

Clay says, ^' With four trumps, do not trump 
an uncertain card, i.e., one which your partner 
may be able to win. With less than four trumps 
and no honor, trump an uncertain card." Cav- 
endish adds, ^^A refusal to be thus forced is 
seldom requisite if you have more than four 
trumps ; with six you are mostly strong enough 
to trump in and to lead trumps ; with five you 
may do the same if your suit is established ; but 
if not, it is generally best to take the force and 
to lead your suit." 

With ace and three small trumps, it is gener- 
ally better not to win an adverse trump lead 
before the third round, unless you have an op- 
portunity by forcing to enable your partner to 
make his small trumps. So, too, it is generally 
not advisable to put the thirteenth trump upon 
an adversary's lead before the third round. It 
may then prove very difficult for him to bring 
in his suit. Holding the best trump, and an ad- 
versary the only other, better force out the ad- 
verse trump by leading your long suit rather 
than draw it by a trump lead, unless your suit 



48 WINNING WHIST 

is established. At the close of the hand, hold- 
ing only best, fourth-best, and one small (second- 
and third-best and one small at your right), to 
your right-hand adversary's high lead put on your 
small one and win both remaining tricks ; other- 
wise you win but one. This is correct play in 
plain suits after the trumps are out. 

SPECIAL LEADS IN TRUMPS 

If there is occasion for leading trumps, when 
queen, knave, ten, or nine has been turned at 
your right, and you hold a sequence at the head 
of a fourchette on the turned card, save with 
ace, king, or king, queen, lead the highest of the 
sequence ; but holding, for instance, ace, king, 
knave, over the queen, or king, queen, ten, over 
the knave, with four, lead the king, and with 
more, the ace or queen. In either event, if you 
win the trick, give the lead to partner and await 
his return of the trump suit in order to finesse 
the knave or ten. With ace, king, and small 
ones, like play may be made, holding best over 
the queen. In like manner, with ace, queen, ten, 
over the knave, lead the queen; and in similar 
cases do the like. 

With ace, king, and not less than three small, 
queen turned at the right, ace, king, may be led ; 
but with king, queen at the head of the suit, 



THE PLAY 49 

knave turned at the right, the king may be led, 
and, if it wins, be followed by the lowest of the 
suit in order that partner may play ace and re- 
turn. With king or queen, ten, and small ones, 
knave turned at the right, lead a small one on 
the chance that partner may hold an honor. 
With king turned at the right, and holding 
queen, knave, nine, knave may be led, and, on 
return of the suit, the nine finessed ; and so in 
like cases. 

With an honor turned at the left, holding a 
lower sequence, lead it down from the head. If 
queen is so turned, holding ace, king, and small, 
lead a small one on the chance of catching her 
later. With queen so turned, holding knave 
and small ones, the knave may be led. 

Payne says, ^^If an honor is turned up by 
your partner, and you are strong in trumps, 
lead a small one ; but if weak in them, lead the 
best you have. By this play the weakest hand 
will support the strongest.^^ 

Pole says, ^^ The trump suit is the most im- 
portant thing in the game of Whist." 

THE CALL 

Not having the lead, but holding not less 
strength than five trumps, an honor, or four 
trumps, two honors, with good cards in your 



50 WINNING WHIST 

own or partner^s hand, you may signal, or " call/' 
for your partner to lead trumps. This is sub- 
stantially a command for him to blindly play 
your game, and should be given only when you 
are at least reasonably sure of success. But 
only an original ^' call/' or one made at the first 
opportunity, has this effect; one made later 
merely amounts to an expression of the opinion 
that a trump lead is now advisable. The " call '' 
is made by playing an unnecessarily high card 
when not attempting to take the trick. If suf- 
ficiently high, — for instance, queen to adverse 
king led, — it might even induce the adversary 
to lead trumps to protect his suit from being 
trumped. That it was unnecessarily high is 
determined by the subsequent fall of the lower 
card. This signal must be carefully distin- 
guished from unblocking and other irregular 
plays for special purposes. Clay says, '^ In ask- 
ing for a trump, it is rarely safe to give the in- 
vitation in your partner's lead with a high card 
—a knave or a queen. ... It must also be very 
carefully observed that this invitation must be 
given in the first round of a suit." This, of 
course, is subject to the exception of an attempt 
to take the trick. 

This signal should not be employed without 
consideration. If partner has a weak hand he 
may not be able to get the lead. His unavailing 



THE PLAY 51 

high play for that purpose will still further 
weaken him. Your signal will have put your 
adversaries upon the watch to prevent either of 
you from getting in until after they have spoiled 
your trump suit either by forcing or by leading 
through it. It also puts them upon the defen- 
sive in keeping guards upon their weak suits, 
making it more difficult to establish and bring 
in a long suit against them. Against weak 
players, however, the ^^call" and all other sig- 
naling will commonly give a decided advan- 
tage. 

Partner's refusal to trump an uncertain trick 
to which he renounces, without knowing you to 
hold the winning card (when he has given no 
previous indication of weakness in trumps), is 
in general a call for trumps complete in itself. 
His refusal, under like circumstances, to trump 
a trick certainly adverse is even more emphatic. 

Knowing the leader to be destitute of trumps, 
his partner's ^^calP' is a demand that he change 
the suit led. It might be made when the part- 
ner held the command of the other two, or of 
the only other one remaining in the leader's 
hand. So, too, a "call" in discarding (trumps 
being against you, and partner having no trumps 
or knowing that you hold none) would indicate 
that you had entire command of the suit in 
which you "caU." 



52 WINNING WHIST 

THE ANSWER 

You should answer your partner's "call'' by 
leading a trump at the earliest possible opportu- 
nity—the ace, if you have it, or second-best from 
second and third ; otherwise the highest of any 
three or less, or the lowest of any four or more 
trumps in your hand, unless they include three 
honors or queen, knave, ten. In either of the 
two latter cases play, as from the short suits, 
from the highest down. 

THE ECHO 

To partner's call for trumps, or, if he by his 
play indicates the possession of four or more 
trumps, holding a like number yourself, and 
being unable to lead them immediately, you 
should improve the earliest opportunity to make 
the trump signal (in this case called an " echo "), 
in order to inform your partner of your strength. 
If you lead, your play of trumps will show 
whether it is from a long or short suit. Should 
your partner get in and lead trumps before you 
have had an opportunity or occasion to " echo " 
in a plain suit, you may "echo" in the trump 
suit when practicable. Your partner may indi- 
cate strength in trumps by leading them, by 
forcing you to trump, or by refusing a force 



THE PLAY 53 

himself. On being forced, you may ^^ echo '^ by 
trumping in with a card higher than you subse- 
quently play. To an adverse trump lead or 
" call," if yourself strong enough to " call '^ origi- 
nally, you may likewise ^^ echo." 

THE SUB-ECHO 

The " echo " indicating to partner the posses- 
sion of four or more trumps, the " sub-echo " an- 
nounces three exactly. It is only employed after 
partner has led trumps or called for them. If 
the partner of the player thus announcing 
strength in trumps has in anj^ way shown that 
he did not originally hold four or more trumps, 
he may ^^echo" as usual 5 otherwise in the sec- 
ond and third rounds of a plain suit by playing 
the cards thereof in the following order : penul- 
timate, antepenultimate, and ultimate. When 
partner does not indicate trump strength, the 
latter form of the ^^ sub-echo" is used by some 
players to announce the holding of exactly four 
trumps, but insufficient strength to either lead 
or call for them. This last signal is of question- 
able utility. 

THE FORCE 

When strong in trumps, force your partner to 
trump, unless he has already led or called for 



54 WINNING WHIST 

them; when not strong enough to lead them, 
force the adverse strong trump hand, thus 
weakening it perhaps beyond the point at which 
trumps could be led. But by no means force 
both opponents at the same time, as the weaker 
will make a small trump, while the stronger 
throws off a losing card. 

Holding less than four trumps, an honor, do 
not force your partner, except to secure a per- 
fectly evident cross-ruff, or to secure the trick 
necessary to win or perhaps to save the game, 
unless, by his play, he has indicated weakness in 
trumps, or your adversaries have indicated 
strength. The last exception is rather an excuse 
than a justification. If partner has led from a 
single card or two weak cards, or, having been 
already forced, has not trumped out, force him 
whenever you can. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PLAY (Continued) 

POSITION 

Whist is a game of calculation, observation, and posi- 
tion or tenace. 

Calculation teaches you to plan your game and lead 
originally to advantage : before a card is played, you 
suppose the dealer to have an honor and three other 
trumps ; the others each an honor and two others. The 
least reflection will show that, as it is two to one that 
your partner has not a named card, to lead on the sup- 
position he has it is to play against calculation ; where- 
as, the odds being in favor of his having one of two 
named cards, you are justified in playing accordingly. 
Calculation is also of use on other occasions ; . » . but, 
after a few leads have taken place, it is nearly superseded 
by observation. Where the sets are really good players, 
before half the cards are played out they are as well ac- 
quainted with the material ones remaining in each other's 
hands as if they had seen them. Where two regular 
players are matched against two irregular ones, it is 
nearly the same advantage as if they were permitted to 

55 



56 WINNING WHIST 

see each other's cards, while the latter were denied the 
same privilege. 

It is an axiom that the nearer your play approaches to 
what is called the dumb man the better. 

These may be called the foundation of the game, and 
are so merely mechanical that any one possessed of a 
tolerable memory may attain them. 

After which comes the more difficult science of posi- 
tion, or the art of using the two former to advantage, 
without which, it is self-evident, they are of no use. 
Attentive study and practice will, in some degree, insure 
success ; but genius must be added before the whole fi- 
nesse of the game can be acquired. —Matthews. 



TENACE 

Hoyle says, "Tenace is possessing the first- and 
third-best cards, and being last player;'' Mat- 
thews, "When the last to play holds the best 
and third-best of a suit." ^^Last to play'' and 
" last player " are here nsed only relatively to the 
holder of the second-best; so that their defini- 
tions really mean that tenace is the holding of 
best and third-best unplayed of any snit, nnder 
such circumstances that the lead must come up 
to them from or through the holder of second- 
best. The same term was also used to indicate 
the position wherein a player might be so led 
up to regardless, or in ignorance, of what cards 
he held. Cavendish, Clay, et id genus omne, in 
defining, limit the meaning of tenace to the hold- 



THE PLAY 57 

ing of the cards irrespective of position. Pole 
adds, " The essence of the tenace, which gives 
the character and importance to the combina- 
tion, is that if the holder of the tenace is last 
player, he must (bar trumping) make tricks with 
both the cards." Ames, in his excellent treatise, 
uses the term indifferently to express either the 
holding of the cards or the holding of the posi- 
tion ; and Cavendish uses it in the latter sense 
in his ^' Card-table Talks.'^ As a matter of sci- 
entific accuracy, it is to be regretted that sepa- 
rate terms cannot be assigned to these separate 
meanings; for instance, major fourchette for 
best and third-best; minor fourchette for sec- 
ond- and fourth-best; vantage, the position; 
major tenace, the combination of major four- 
chette and vantage ; and minor tenace, minor 
fourchette and vantage. 

" Good old Matthews '^ says of tenace, as he 
defines it, ^^ Though it is often necessary to re- 
linquish it for more certain advantages, still no 
man can be a Whist-player who does not fully 
understand it.'' It is evident that if the holder 
of second-best, singly guarded, has to lead or 
play up to the major tenace, he loses both 
tricks ; if led up to, he wins one. Very many of 
the stratagems of the play are based upon this 
principle, which applies to an almost infinite 
variety of combinations. A trick may often be 



58 WINNING WHIST 

advantageously sacrificed in order that yourself 
or partner may, through tenace, Yfin two. The 
following are simple illustrations : 

You may hold a good plain suit and four 
trumps, an honor ; your partner^s lead may be 
trumped (high) by the second player ; and you, 
though void of the suit, may refuse to over- 
trump. You thus increase the value of your 
own trumps, increase the probability of establish- 
ing and bringing in your long suit, and make 
your partner last player in an adversary's suit, 
wherein he may hold best and third-best or sec- 
ond-best singly guarded. Or, in the last three 
tricks (trumps being out, and yourself as last 
player holding best, fourth-best, and one small 
of a suit not before opened), to lead of second- 
best you should put on the small one, thus re- 
taining tenace and winning two tricks. So, too, 
in like holding of the unplayed trumps. Or, 
having the lead, and holding ace and queen of 
two plain suits and one losing trump (the only 
other trump being held by your left-hand op- 
ponent, and the other plain suit having been 
played out), by leading the losing trump you 
certainly make not less than three tricks in your 
own hand ; otherwise you could be sure of but 
two. The following is a little more complicated. 
Toward the last of the hand it may become evi- 
dent that you are likely to be left with the best. 



THE PLAY 59 

third-best, and one small in trumps, while yonr 
right-hand adversary will hold the second- and 
fourth-best or the second-best singly guarded, 
no other trumps remaining. Here you should 
contrive to get rid of your small trump before 
the eleventh trick (even by trumping a trick al- 
ready belonging to your partner, or by throwing 
it upon a trick already covered hj a higher 
trump), holding in its place a losing card of 
some plain suit, in order that you may be led 
up to in the twelfth trick instead of being 
obliged to lead. This is called le grand coup, 
and the occasion for it may occur to you per- 
haps three or four times in a lifetime. 

Two historic coups are here presented, not 
merely as curiosities, but as highly instructive 
illustrations of position play at its best. The 
first, known as the Duke of Cumberland's Hand, 
beautifully exemplifies the merits of the Eleven 
Rule, tenace, and a long weak plain suit when 
duly supported by superior strength in trumps. 
It further demonstrates that even such a com- 
bination as a magnificent hand, the original 
lead, and correct play cannot always be relied 
upon to win. The duke, as first player, led his 
fourth-best trump (seven of hearts), the abso- 
lutely correct play, but necessarily failed to take 
a trick. He is said to have lost twenty thou- 
sand pounds upon the hand. It was played be- 



60 



WINNING WHIST 



fore the invention of American Leads, Eleven 
Kule, or Echo. The original play is given, but 
the reader may profitably amuse himself by 
bringing the play up to date, which will in no 
way interfere with the result. The second, 
known as the Vienna Coup, occurred in a game 
of double dummy. The first player, on examin- 
ing his cards, exclaimed that he would take every 
trick. Large bets were made against him, but 
he performed the feat. The play is not given. 
Let the reader solve the problem for himself, 
with the assurance that, when he has learned all 
that these two coups can teach, he will find him- 
self fairly well qualified to play winning Whist. 



THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND'S HAND 

H. : Kg., Kn., 9, 7. 
S. : A., Kg. 
D. : A., Kg., Q. 
C. : A., Kg., Q., Kn. 



H. : 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. 
D. : 5, 4, 3, 2. 
C. : 5, 4, 3, 2. 




H. : A., Q., 10, 8. 

S. : 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 
5, 4, 3, 2. 



S. : Q., Kn. 

D. : Kn., 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. 

C. : 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. 



THE PLAY 



61 



In the following table of the play of the first 
six tricks, No. 1 leads the seven of hearts. The 
card winning each trick is indicated by a dot. 



1 


o 














p 














m 














tii 


(M 


CO 


-* 


io 


«o 




CO 

1 


d 


CO 




t- 




GO 




Q 














CO 








C 






» 














6 


O 














P 














cc 




c« 




CO 






K 


CO 




s 




b 


^ 


r-5 

i 


c5 














« 














m 




^ 




< 






M 


t- 




05 




^ 

M 






rH 


(M 


CO 


^ 


lO 


«D 



62 



WINNING WHIST 



No. 2 J being in the lead at the seventh trick, leads 
his sequence of spades from the head down, tak- 
ing a trick with every card. Nos. 2 and 4 win 
every trick. 

THE VIENNA COUP 

Clubs are trumps. No. 1 leads. Nos. 1 and 
2 take every trick. 

C. : A., Kg., Q., 3. 

H. : 2. 

S. : A., Q. 

D. : A., Q., 7, 6, 4, 3. 



C. : Kn., 10, 9. 
n. : 8, 4. 

S. : 9, 8, 7, 5, 4, 2. 
D. : Kg., 9. 




C. : 8, 6, 5. 
H. : 10, 9, 7, 6, 5. 
S. : Kg., 6. 
D. : Kn., 10, 8. 



C. : 7, 4, 2. 

H. : A., Kg., Q., Kn., 3. 

S. : Kn., 10, 3. 

D. : 5, 2. 



FINESSE 



Finesse is the attempt by the second or third 
player to win a trick with a card of the suit led, 
other than the highest in hand, the location of 



THE PLAY 63 

the intermediate cards being unknown. The 
term is sometimes loosely applied to cases of 
like play when the intermediate cards are 
placed. 

Finesse may be deeper in trumps than in plain 
suits ; deeper in plain suits after the trumps are 
out, or when the long trumps are in hand, than 
before ; deeper in your own or adversary's suit 
than in your partner's, except that a short suit 
led by your partner may be treated as your own ; 
and deepest of all in your partner's weakest suit, 
led to you after the adversaries have drawn the 
trumps of yourself and partner, remaining with 
the long ones themselves. In the first round of 
partner's original lead, of trumps or otherwise, 
the only justifiable finesse is queen from ace, 
queen, or knave from ace, queen, knave. 

When very strong in trumps, you may finesse 
more freely in your partner's suit than at other 
times ; and when very weak in trumps, or with 
none at all, you should finesse deeply in suits in 
which you believe him to be weak, in order to 
protect him as long as possible from a force. 
You may sometimes be guided to a successful 
finesse by application of the Eleven Rule. Fi- 
nesse is unpardonable when one trick wins the 
game, or, except with known strength, when one 
trick saves it. It is commonly against but one 
card; but with second- and fourth-best, best at 



64 WINNING WHIST 

your left, finesse fourth-best. The following is 
from Clay's treatise on Short Whist : 

Again, say that you have led from king, nine, and 
small cards, and that your partner, having taken with 
the queen, returns to you the eight. . . . You know that 
he has returned to you the best card he holds in the suit, 
and that you have to contend not only against the ace, 
which you know to be behind you, but against the knave 
and the ten, neither of which cards can be with your 
partner. The position is difficult, but there is no help 
for it. You must pass your partner's eight. It is a fi- 
nesse against two cards; but one, or possibly both of 
them, may be with your right-hand adversary, in each of 
which cases you will have played to advantage, and even 
in the worst case, viz., that you find both knave and ten, 
along with the ace, behind you, you have yet retained 
your king guarded and have not given up the entire com- 
mand of the suit. 

This leads to the consideration of another numerous 
class of cases, which, although not unsimilar, cannot 
strictly be called finesse. Take the same cards as given 
in the last example. Your partner equally takes with the 
queen and returns the eight, but your right-hand adver- 
sary renounces the suit. You now know that the ace, 
ten, and knave are all three behind you, and it is true 
that there is no finesse against a hand which has none of 
the suit played. Still, you would be very wrong to play 
your king. You must pass your partner's eight, and you 
still hold your king guarded, which prevents your left- 
hand adversary from going on with the suit, without 
either giving up its command or forcing his partner. 
Your king, thus guarded, may still be of great value to 
you, as your partner will certainly not continue the 
suit, and your right-hand adversary cannot. To have 



THE PLAY 65 

played your king would have given the entire com- 
mand of the suit to your left-hand adversary, than 
which no position could be worse. Cases similar to this 
are of frequent occurrence, and should be treated on 
this principle. 

Clay likewise says, " With ordinary hands, fi- 
nesse may be deep at their commencement, 
should contract as they go on, until, in the last 
four or five cards, there is scarcely any opportu- 
nity left for finesse, properly so called.^' 

UNDERPLAY 

Underplay consists in leading a low card of 
your left-hand adversary's suit, while retaining 
the best in your own hand. The object of the 
play is to induce him to play low, second hand, 
instead of putting on second-best, if he holds it, 
whereby your partner would have an even 
chance of winning the trick and you would re- 
main in command of the suit. The opportunity 
usually occurs by reason of your winning a trick 
in your left-hand adversary's suit. When this is 
the case, if you can retain the lead in some other 
suit, better lead that for a round or two before 
returning your adversary's, as he may then be 
less suspicious. This stratagem is more effec- 
tive against an indifferent player than against 
either a good one or a beginner. 



66 WINNING WHIST 

HOLDING UP 

This is a species of underplay, and consists in 
retaining the best card in hand for a round or 
two in order to play it with greater effect later. 
It is quite effective when used with good Judg- 
ment, particularly in the trump suit, or in plain 
suits after the trumps are out. 

PLACING THE LEAD 

With a wretchedly weak hand, having by any 
chance obtained the lead, and having no in- 
formation concerning your partner^s strong suit, 
if the previous play of the adversaries and an 
inspection of your own hand cannot guide you 
to it with any satisfactory degree of probability, 
it would be well to lead from a suit of which 
you know your right-hand opponent to hold the 
best, in order that he may be obliged to open a 
suit in which your partner may be strong and 
will certainly have the advantage of position. 
Desiring the advantage of tenace yourself, it 
may sometimes be expedient, toward the close of 
the hand, to drop a trick to your left-hand ad- 
versary if he must or probably will lead your 
suit. 

Whenever, at the end of the hand, you hold 
the best and third-best trumps or second-best 



THE PLAY 67 

guarded over the player at your right, he having 
the lead, be sure to get rid of the control of his 
plain suit before the eleventh trick. The play 
will be similar to unblocking (concerning which 
later), but in an adversary's suit. Matthews is 
such excellent authority upon these points that 
no excuse is necessary for another citation : 

You are not only to take every method to preserve the 
tenace or advantage of the position to yourself when it 
is evident that the winning cards lie between you and 
your adversary, but also to give it as much as possible to 
your partner when you perceive the strength in any suit 
is in the hands of him and your left-hand adversary ; al- 
ways keeping in your mind that when the latter or you 
lead the tenace is against, if your partner lead it is for, 
the adversary. It frequently happens that, by winning 
your partner^s trick, when last player, you accomplish 
this. . . . 

The following critical stroke decided one of the most 
material rubbers that was ever played, and is recom- 
mended to the attentive perusal even of proficients : 

The parties were at nine. A had won six tricks, and 
remained, with knave and a small trump and two dia- 
monds, with the lead ; B, his left-hand adversary, with 
the queen and ten of trumps and two clubs ; C, his part- 
ner, with two small trumps and two diamonds ; D, last 
player, with ace and a small trump, a club and a heart. 
A led a diamond, which, being passed by B, was to be 
won by D. Query : How is D to play to make it possible 
to win the odd trick? Answer : D saw it was not possi- 
ble, unless his partner had either the two best trumps or 
the first and third with a successful finesse. He therefore 



68 WINNING WHIST 

trumped with the ace, led the small one, and won the 
game. ... In another score of the game this would not 
be justifiable, as the chance of losing a trick is greater 
than that of gaining one by it. 

Here is another case, known as Deschapelles' 
Coup, from Cavendish : 

All the adversaries' and partner's trumps are exhausted, 
and the leader^s partner remains with an established suit. 
If the leader (not having any of his partner's suit left) is 
obliged to open a fresh suit headed by king, queen, or 
knave, he should lead the highest card, irrespective of 
the number of cards he holds in the sidt, that being the 
best chance of subsequently procuring the lead for his 
partner in case his only card of entry in that suit should 
be an honor, not the ace. . . . 

Deschapelles' Coup often succeeds in practice, but it 
may generally be defeated by an attentive player. When 
the above-described position of the cards occurs the ad- 
versary, if he has the ace of the fresh suit led, should not 
put it on first round. The suit will, in all probability, be 
continued with a low card, when the third player will 
most likely be compelled to play his highest, which will 
be taken by the ace ; and, having lost the card of reentry, 
he never brings in his suit imless he gets the lead in some 
other way. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE PLAY {Concluded) 
UNBLOCKING 

This feature of the play is no innovation, 
Hoyle having devoted a number of positions to 
illustrating the theory and practice ; all of which 
may be summed up in saying : Get rid of the 
command of your partner's long plain suit as 
soon as feasible, retaining if possible a small 
card with which to return him the lead. Do 
not hesitate to put your king on your partner's 
ace, or vice versa, when necessary in order to un- 
block. Holding a suit of four to your partner's 
five, you should so plan your play as to get rid 
of your last commanding card on the third 
round, retaining your lowest to return to part- 
ner ; e.g., to your partner's leads, when not at- 
tempting to win either of the first two tricks, 
put on your third-best first round, your second- 
best second round, and your best third round. 

69 



70 WINNING WHIST 

This manner of play is called the plain-suit echo. 
With three of your partner^s suit, the second 
round should complete your unblocking; with 
but two, put the commanding card on the first 
trick. When it is evident to you that your 
partner's lead is from a short suit or one no 
longer than your own, do not unblock unless, in 
some exceptional case, to deceive the enemy. 

THE DISCARD 

When unable to follow suit and unable or 
not desiring to trump, unless signahng, the 
original discard should generally be the lowest 
card of your weakest suit ; and it is a notice to 
partner not to lead that suit unless very strong 
in it himself. The chief exception to the rule 
is this : When it seems apparent that the strength 
of the trump suit is in the hands of your oppo- 
nents (as indicated by a trump lead or call, or, 
more equivocally, by refusing to trump a doubt- 
ful trick, etc.), the original discard should be 
from the longest suit, both as a matter of defen- 
sive play and for the specific information of 
partner. Should one of the adversaries and 
partner both call for trumps, the discard should 
be made according to the indications of the last 
signal. Trumps having been led by both, let 
the discard conform to the strength indicated 



THE PLAY 71 

by the play ; if adverse, it should be from the 
long, otherwise from the short, suit. But do 
not, in general, leave single an honor in discard- 
ing unless the strength in trumps appears to be 
with yourself and partner and your suit has not 
been indicated. 

The reason for the rule is this : If the strength 
in trumps is with you, it is for your interest to 
preserve your long suit intact, and direct your 
partner to it by every means in your power, on 
the chance that you may be able to establish and 
bring it in ; but if the trumps are against you 
this is not practicable, and you should assume 
the defensive by retaining what strength you 
have in the suits that are probably those of your 
adversaries. 

When yourself and partner know each other 
to be weak in trumps, discards to an adverse 
lead may be made to deceive the adversary ; to 
partner^s lead, always for the information of 
partner. With full command of any suit, you 
may, in discarding, signal in it if partner has no 
trumps or knows that you have none. A discard 
of the best of an unopened suit indicates that 
you have full command of it j a discard of the 
second-best that you have no more of the suit. 
Toward the close of a hand, the lead of the last 
trump or other certain winning card will some- 
times oblige an adversary to unguard an honor 



72 YV^INNING WHIST 

or to break a f onrcliette. This is called a forced 
discard, and is the key to many coups. 

THE ELEVEN RULE 

The substance of this rule (first discovered by 
Mr. R. F. Foster, of New York) has already been 
stated. The original lead of a fourth-best card 
or the secondary lead of a fifth-best indicates 
that there are three better remaining in hand, 
the secondary lead of fourth-best indicating two ; 
subtracting the number of pips, on the fourth- 
best, from eleven, or, in case of fifth-best, from 
ten (third-best from twelve), the remainder shows 
the whole number of better cards in that suit not 
held by the leader. A glance in hand and close 
attention to the play upon the first trick, or first 
and second, will sometimes locate them very 
closely ; and so, too, at times with the remainder 
of the suit. 

This development constitutes the greatest 
modern contribution to ^^the conversation of 
the game." It should be borne in mind, how- 
ever, that conversation without action is typical 
of weakness rather than strength; that the 
knowledge of what is of little avail unless backed 
by the applied knowledge of how. The Whist 
of Hoyle, Matthews, Deschapelles, and Clay, 
wherein the ingenuity was directed to percep- 



THE PLAY 73 

tion and play rather than to displaying or read- 
ing an elaborate conventional code of signals, 
has never been much improved upon. The re- 
proach oftenest applied to the modern sj^stem is 
the allegation that the ability developed for play 
is, in general, much inferior to that acquired for 
signaling. That system, however, does tend to 
create a host of acceptable partners for experts, 
which is a boon to both, making life much 
pleasanter for the fine players, and they, in 
turn, for their partners. 

CUI BONO? 

Having now presented the rules for the lead 
and the general principles of the game and its 
play, it remains to be said that those rules, in 
their strictness, apply only to the beginning, to 
that stage in the play when the location of the 
cards actually held by the different players is 
a matter of arbitrary assumption rather than 
of inferential knowledge. None of them but 
must yield at times to the ascertained circum- 
stances of the different hands. Here, as else- 
where, theory must give place to fact. When 
confronted by ^^ a condition, not a theory,'' your 
play should promptly conform to the existing 
condition. When in doubt concerning the facts, 
probability is the guide. 



74 WINNING WHIST 

Finally, with the play as with the leads, you 
are bound to mate the plays prescribed for the 
information of partner only when you have one 
who will profit by them. With a partner who 
understands neither the principles nor the prac- 
tice of the combined play of the hands, you are 
not bound by the rules therefor further than 
they may happen to be for your individual ad- 
vantage. Play your own hand for all it is worth, 
and afford such incidental assistance to your 
partner as your capacity for guessing may en- 
able you to do. If he is one who hoards up his 
trumps in order to return your lead if you make 
it, or merely to follow suit to the lead of an ad- 
versary, force him whenever you can. Under 
all such circumstances your object should be, 
not to demonstrate to your adversaries that you 
understand how to play the game according to 
the latest developments of scientific convention- 
ality, but to win from them if possible ; if not, 
to keep down their winnings. In other words, 
if estopped from making your game " a scien- 
tific contest for points,'^ better adopt the " rough- 
and-tumble '' tactics. You have nothing to lose 
and everything to gain thereby. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PLAY OF THE WEAK HAND 

Weakness to be wroth with weakness ! 

Tennyson. 

The attentive perusal (in the mode prescribed) of these 
[the preceding] maxims will, I think, with a little practice, 
enable a beginner to play with very good cards to con- 
siderable advantage. The difficulty of the game does not 
consist in this ; for aces and kings will make tricks, and 
no skill can make a ten win a knave.— Matthews. 

Suits are roughly classified as strong or weak 
(more accurately, long or short), according to 
whether they comprise four or more cards, or 
three or less ; and the leads are adapted to this 
classification. More properly, strength of suit 
should be recognized as consisting of a greater 
than an average number of high cards. This is 
intrinsic strength. Length of suit alone is an 
element of strength only when combined with 
intrinsic strength in other suits, notably the 
trump suit j otherwise it is an element of weak- 
75 



76 WINNING WHIST 

ness. With a plain suit of thirteen cards in 
hand, it is impossible to take a trick; so, too, 
with a hand composed of two plain snits, one 
from the deuce to the eight, both inclusive, and 
the other from the deuce to the seven. It is like- 
wise the same with a hand composed of three 
plain suits, one from the deuce to the six, and 
each of the others from the deuce to the five in- 
clusive. Mere length of suit does not confer in- 
trinsic strength, except in trumps. Combined 
with trump strength, it is far otherwise ] for an 
example of which see the second hand in the 
coup entitled ^^The Duke of Cumberland's 
Hand,'' in a preceding chapter. 

Hands may, in like manner, be styled strong 
or weak, according to whether or not they con- 
tain a strong (long) trump suit ; for ^^ the trump 
suit is the most important thing in the game of 
"Whist." Upon this classification depends the 
general management of the hand. Matthews 
cites, with approval, the maxim, '^ Never play a 
strong game with a weak hand, or vice versaJ^ A 
strong game (or a ^^ great game," in the language 
of Hoyle and Payne) consists in playing with 
reference to drawing the adverse trumps in 
order to bring in an established long suit ; con- 
tradistinguished from this, by the Long-Whist 
authorities, was " playing for the odd trick." 

To the former plan of campaign the conven- 



PLAY OF THE WEAK HAND 77 

tional systems of leads and the great majority 
of the resulting rules for play are adapted; 
hence the play of the strong hand is first and 
most readily learned. Nevertheless more than 
half of the time (about 58.5 times in 100 con- 
secutive deals) the player probably finds himself 
with three, or less, trumps in hand. Here Cav- 
endish comes to the rescue with this maxim: 
"With a strong trump hand, play your own 
game ; with a weak trump hand, play your part- 
ner's game.'' Of course superior strength in 
trumps is properly applied, by leading them, to 
disarming the enemy and bringing in the estab- 
lished plain suit. When weak in trumps, if 
partner is strong, they may (if reasonably high) 
be very useful in strengthening, supporting, and 
returning his suit and lead ; but if low are most 
useful for ruffing (trumping) plain suits. But it 
frequently happens (about 34 times in 100 con- 
secutive deals) that partner, himself being like- 
wise weak, has no (strong) game to play. And 
at this point, in consequence, no road appearing 
to lead in a satisfactory direction, beginners fre- 
quently " take to the woods " and get lost. In 
truth, there is no royal road to taking tricks 
without holding winning cards : weakness can- 
not be made superior to strength. The art of 
Whist, as of war, consists in being the stronger 
at the point of contact. There are, of course, 



78 WINNING WHIST 

various gradations of strength, as of weakness, 
which, at their point of least difference, merge 
and shade into one another. In plain suits, a se- 
quence of the three highest cards is stronger 
than one of the four lowest; and of hands, one 
containing the three highest trumps with the 
command of the three plain suits is stronger 
than one composed of the four lowest trumps 
and only losing cards in the plain suits. There 
is an indeterminate point where these different 
kinds of strength are equalized. The effective 
strength of a hand may be in its trumps, its 
plain suits, or temporarily in its position. 
Strength of some kind it must have, or it is 
not a winning factor in the game. What is 
thus true of one hand is doubly true of the com- 
bined hands of partners. 

The final problem of the play of the weak 
hand is in what manner to obtain for it the full 
benefit of whatever of these three elements of 
strength it contains or may be made to have. 
With overwhelming strength, minor matters of 
detail may be ignored ; with prevailing weak- 
ness, no possible advantage is too minute to be 
dismissed without consideration. All this in- 
volves a knowledge of details and an attention 
to the play which can only be outlined here, and 
must be learned in their fulness, if at all, by 
painstaking practice. 



PLAY OF THE WEAK HAND 79 

The proposition awaiting consideration con- 
cerns the course to be pursued when both part- 
ners are weak in trumps. Here^ in the majority 
of cases, they must be beaten. They may some- 
times win, however, and may always keep down 
as much as possible the winnings of their op- 
ponents. The tactics are the same in both 
cases, and are of the ^^ leave-no-stone-unturned " 
order. If the hand has been opened by drawing 
all the adverse trumps, some remaining to the 
strong hands, it is settled that when one of the 
opposing players gets the lead he should open 
not his own strongest suit, but his partner's, in 
the absence of any other indication thereof, 
leading from his own weakest suit, or, if holding 
two weak plain suits, whichever of them seems 
more advantageous. The partner should finesse 
deeply, and, if he wins the trick, return in like 
manner the suit in which he believes his partner 
to be strong, tlius, when successful, establishing 
a see-saw in plain suits. It is likewise settled 
that each player should finesse deeply in the suit 
in which he believes his partner to be weak, in 
order to protect it. 

There remains that vexatious class of cases 
wherein both partners are weak in trumps, one 
having the lead before trumps have been led or 
strength in trumps in any way indicated. Here, 
according to the prevailing conventionality, the 



80 WINNING WHIST 

original lead should be from tlie strongest suit, 
unless it has been previously opened by the 
enemy ; in which case the next-best suit should 
generally be chosen. With but three, or less, 
small trumps and an unpromising suit (particu- 
larly with an adverse deal and unfavorable run 
of the cards), if still in the dark, the second lead 
is a more troublesome problem. If the original 
suit is continued, the enemy, if strong, must 
soon win the lead and trump out ; whereby those 
small trumps will be sacrificed and the sacrifice 
afterward probably extended to the other ele- 
ments of the hand. 

Here we will cast back further. In 1770 
Payne so far forecast the modern conventional 
play as to strike its key-note in saying, " Begin 
with the suit of which you have the most in 
number." He likewise made the following 
recommendation : " Suppose yourself leader, 
with three small trumps, one strong suit, one 
moderate suit, and a single card ; begin with the 
strong suit, and next lead the single card." The 
singleton is played, of course, in order that part- 
ner, if he has nothing decidedly better in view, 
may return the suit last led, so that the fii'st 
player may have an opportunity to make a small 
trump or two. The unnecessary change of suit 
to lead the singleton is a confession of weakness, 
but one which could probably not long be de- 



PLAY OF THE WEAK HAND 81 

ferred and is hardly more objectionable on that 
score than various other plays. Much must de- 
pend upon the capacity of partner and opponents. 
With skilled adversaries it is a hazardous expedi- 
ent, not to be indulged in rashly. Cavendish 
says: 

It is in most cases unquestionably disadvantageous to 
you that the whole table should be aware of your being 
very weak in a particular suit, and, consequently, in- 
formation of weakness should be withheld as long as pos- 
sible. . . . 

When you are unfortunately tied to an untaught part- 
ner, especially if at the same time you are pitted against 
observant adversaries, you should expose your hand as 
little as possible, particularly in respect of minor details. 

Clay, however, directs, ^^ Let the first card you 
throw away be from your weakest suit. Your 
partner will take this as if you said to him, ^ Do 
not lead this suit unless you have great strength 
in it yourself.^ " Of course, however, such a dis- 
card gives a partial indication of the strong suit 
as well. But so by these two leads, from the 
strong suit and of the singleton, in proper cases 
partner is informed concerning the strongest 
plain suit, the one next in strength, that the 
leader is weak in trumps and void in the suit 
last led, which, if necessary and possible, must 
be protected by partner. He, having been fully 
informed, is left to act in the premises according 



82 WINNING WHIST 

to the dictates of his own judgment and the com- 
position of his own hand. If strong, let him 
play a strong game ; if weak, he cannot adopt a 
contrary course too quickly. 

The return of a singleton in the unplayed suit, 
if such there should be, might constitute an 
original lead from a single card, which is gener- 
ally condemned by all modern authorities, chiefly 
as a false-card lead which must deceive one part- 
ner to the mutual injury of both. That objec- 
tion could hardly apply in this case, the former 
leader substantially inviting such play, as a 
cross-ruff might thereby be estabhshed. More- 
over, the combination from which it would be- 
come possible would occur so seldom that such 
practice could, even if adopted whenever prac- 
ticable, hardly come under Clay's condemnation 
of such a lead ^' as a habit." 

This, together with his concession that false 
cards might be played when the partner was so 
weak that no harm could be done by deceiving 
him, would go far toward justifjdng, in desperate 
cases, the original lead of a singleton, in connec- 
tion with a short suit of small trumps, in most 
instances where it is permissible for a player to 
force his partner, though weak in trumps him- 
self. The capacity of partner, of opponents, and 
the other circumstances of the case must deter- 
mine in specially doubtful positions. Cavendish 



PLAY OF THE WEAK HAND 83 

says, " There is no Whist principle which should 
not be occasionally violated, owing to knowledge 
of the hands derived from inference during the 
play." All irregular play must, in general, stand 
or fall according to the result. All things are 
permitted to him whose perception and judg- 
ment are so keen and true as to enable him, in 
circumstances of difficulty, to accomplish a fa- 
vorable result by departure from rule. This is 
the crown and glory of fine play. ^^ Nothing 
succeeds like success," but ^''vce victis!^^ 

When both partners are weak, the opening 
short-suit play of a sequence of ace, king, queen, 
if luckily in hand, would seem unexceptionable. 
There would be about an even chance of winning 
three immediate tricks, or, failing in that, of 
forcing the adverse strong trump hand. If the 
three tricks are taken, there still remains an 
opening for forcing play direct, or to establish a 
cross-ruff, as may seem most feasible. In gen- 
eral, any play which will establish and bring in 
a cross-ruff is justifiable and expedient. 

In this class of cases, tricks should be made 
early and particular attention be given to obtain- 
ing every possible advantage from tenace ; while 
finesse, except in partner's weak suit or the 
player's strong one, should be cautiously indulged 
in; so, too, with false cards. In fact, the old- 
time Long- Whist method of playing for the odd 



84 WINNING WHIST 

trick so far as applicable may be adopted. Con- 
cerning this last, Matthews may once more be 
quoted : 

In playing for an odd trick, you play a closer game 
than at other scores. You lead from single cards and 
force your partner when, at another time, you would not 
be justified. It is seldom in this case proper to lead 
trumps, and few finesses are justifiable. It is a nice part 
of the game, and experience, with attention, will alone 
teach it with effect. 

On winning a trick in an adverse trump lead, 
partner being weak in trumps and void in a 
plain suit, if he probably has a small trump left, 
force him first of all. 

If partner is void in a plain suit and liis 
strong suit has been indicated, but not led, if 
holding a singleton in the latter, it is sometimes 
best to lead it before forcing him, thus estabhsh- 
ing a cross-ruff. 

It has already been stated that at second hand, 
when weak in trumps, every opportunity for 
ruffing should be improved; also that when 
holding but one trump (if moderately high), 
with a good hand in all plain suits and in part- 
ner's deal, the single triimp may sometimes be 
led to advantage. There are about 49 chances 
in 100 that partner will hold five or more trumps ; 
and about 78 in 100 that he will hold four or 
more, while in the second round of that suit he 



PLAY OF THE WEAK HAND 85 

will draw two adverse trumps for one. He is 
thus unlikely to be seriously injured by such a 
lead or deceived by it to his disadvantage. But 
false cards may generally be played more freely 
in the adversaries' suits than in those of the ori- 
ginal leader or his partner. 

This chapter has been written to supply a 
want frequently experienced by a Whist-player 
at a certain point in his progress, when his play 
of a good hand has become reasonably regular 
and satisfactory, but that of many of the not in- 
frequent bad ones is to him but a puzzle and a 
snare. A few of the more obvious expedients 
have been presented, involving more or less at 
least apparent infractions of some of the general 
rules of the play. There are none of them, how- 
ever, but may be traced to some acknowledged 
authority ; and if their use is limited to the in- 
stances cited, it is believed that no serious harm 
is likely to result therefrom. They are to be con- 
sidered as a medicine rather than as a daily food. 

Much of the material for this chapter has been 
derived from the earlier writers who treated of 
Long Whist. A reason for this may be found 
in the fact that the modern English authorities 
treat exclusively of Short Whist, a game of five 
points, with a possibility of winning four by 
honors, and an average of about two, leaving 
but three points to be won by play; while the 



86 WINNING WHIST 

confessedly more scientific game of Long Whist, 
with its average of four points by honors and 
six by tricks, bears a much closer analogy to the 
American game of seven points, no honors, which 
is more scientific still. This condition is intensi- 
fied in Whist for Continuous Points and Dupli- 
cate Whist. In the three latter games, a large 
part of the data accumulated by the later Eng- 
lish authors becomes useless ; while some of the 
methods of the old Long- Whist school may prove 
to be deser^ino: of renewed attention. 



CHAPTER IX 

ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 

Chance is a word void of sense ; nothing can exist with- 
out a cause. —Voltaire. 

All nature is but art unknown to thee ; 
All chance, direction which thou canst not see. 

Pope. 

Chance is usually spoken of in direct antithesis to law ; 
whatever (it is supposed) cannot be ascribed to any law 
is attributed to chance. It is, however, certain that 
whatever happens is the result of some law, is an effect 
of causes, and could have been predicted from a know- 
ledge of the existence of those causes, and from their 
laws. If I turn up a particular card, that is a conse- 
quence of its place in the pack. Its place in the pack 
was a consequence of the manner in which the cards were 
shuffled, or of the order in which they were played in the 
last game ; which, again, were the effects of prior causes. 
At every stage, if we had possessed an accurate knowledge 
of the causes in existence, it would have been abstract- 
edly possible to foretell the effect. — John Stuart Mill. 

Should the dealer^ at Whist^ take a pack in 
whicli the cards were separated into their several 

87 



88 WINNING WHIST 

suits, and (without knowledge of that fact on the 
part of himself or of any of the three other 
players) shuffle (by coupling the cards from top 
and bottom, going through the entire pack in that 
manner twice), and, after the cutting, deal them, 
each player would hold an entire suit. This re- 
markable result w^ould be a typical matter of 
chance to all. Suppose, however, that the dealer 
alone had previously known the original arrange- 
ment of the suits in the pack and had intention- 
ally adapted his shuffle thereto for the purpose 
of arriving at that result. The result would 
have been precisely the same. The only differ- 
ence in the conditions would have been the 
knowledge of the dealer. To him the result 
would have been the effect of known causation, 
the product of fixed laws, a certainty; to the 
others, the same matter of chance as before. 
This instance is cited simply because of its sim- 
plicity and the readiness with which it can be 
verified ; but, whatever the original arrangement 
of the cards, whatever the nature of the shuffle, 
whatever the character of the cut, the result of 
the deal depends upon them as its antecedent 
causes and is the same whether they are known 
or unknown. If they are known, that result is, 
to him who knows, the necessary effect of direct 
causation ; to those who do not know those causes 
it is the product of chance. What is true in this 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 89 

respect of the deal is likewise true of all other 
matters whatever. 

Chance is the operation of unknown causes. 
It is neither necessary, desirable, nor proper to 
here elucidate the general theory further than is 
requisite to arrive at an understanding of its 
actual application to the game of Whist. 

Much industry, learning, and ability have 
been devoted to the so-called calculation of 
chances ; but there is no operation of figures by 
which ignorance can be transmuted into specific 
knowledge. The so-called Theory of Probabili- 
ties, so far as it has any foundation in fact, is 
really the theory of averages as applied to large 
numbers, not individual cases, and of greater or 
less value according to the greater or less num- 
ber of instances from which it is derived and to 
which, in turn, it is applied. Knowledge of the 
composition of any particular unplayed hand 
can be legitimately acquired only by inspection 
(analysis) or inference (induction). The former 
is applicable only to the hands of the persons 
holding them, or to those of dummy; for the 
latter there is no sufficient basis except in 
double dummy. In ordinary Whist, as in other 
games of chance, it being impossible to ascertain 
the contents of the three unexposed hands either 
by analysis or induction, attempts are made to 
determine roughly their probable contents by 



90 WINNING WHIST 

two processes— the calculation of chances, and an 
analysis of a series of hands actually dealt. The 
results of the calculation and of the analysis 
(while approximating more and more closely, in 
general, according to whether a comparatively 
small or comparatively large number of cases 
is involved) may not altogether agree, as the 
calculation is really based upon an infinite num- 
ber of cases and the analysis upon a finite num- 
ber. Neither affords a better basis for deter- 
mining the contents of any particular unknown 
hand than does a perfectly unbiassed guess ; for, 
the cards having been dealt, the contents of each 
hand are fixed, and no process of reasoning or 
calculation can alter the facts. It is not a mat- 
ter of probability, but of fixed fact ; it is another 
case of being confronted by a condition, not a 
theory. Nevertheless both the calculation and 
the analysis, which is practically a verification 
of the former, have their value, as will appear 
later. 

Suppose one black and one white ball, alike in 
all but color, to be put into an urn, otherwise 
empty, from which one is to be drawn by a per- 
son blindfolded. The chance of drawing either 
is 1 in 2, called an equal or even chance, and ex- 
pressed by the fraction J, whereof the numerator 
(1) expresses certainty, and the denominator (2) 
the number of chances to be taken. Now sup- 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 91 

pose the black ball to have been drawn and re- 
tained in hand. It has become a certainty that 
another drawing would produce the white one. 

Instead of the two, suppose that the urn con- 
tained six balls, alike in aU but the fact that they 
are numbered from one to six. The chance of 
drawing, at the first attempt, any one of the 
numbers is 1 in 6, expressed by the fraction i. 
Suppose it was desired to draw No. 6, but that 
No. 1 was drawn and retained in hand. The 
chance of drawing No. 6 at the second trial would 
not be 1 in 6, but 1 in 5, ^. Should some other 
number be then drawn and retained, the chance 
of drawing No. 6 at the third time becomes J. 
Under like circumstances, for the fourth time the 
chance would be J, the fifth, J, and the sixth, y (1), 
or certainty. 

These two cases illustrate one conception of 
the Theory of Probabilities as applied to our 
game. One of two equal chances having hap- 
pened, many contend that it is practically cer- 
tain, at least highly probable, that the other will 
occur the next time. So, too, in the case of 1 
chance in 6 having failed five consecutive times, 
they contend that it is, in like manner, practi- 
cally certain that it will occur at the sixth trial. 
Something like this has been styled the '^ Matur- 
ity of the Chances.'^ If these assumptions are not 
true, its advocates would say, then is your theory 



92 WINNING WHIST 

in conflict with your experience, and the original 
statement of the original chances must have 
been in some way erroneous. 

But take an ordinary die and cast it with the 
desire of throwing six. The calculated chance 
of success is ^, You may succeed, however, at 
the first trial; but if not, the number thrown 
still remains in the case, and the calculated 
chance at the second cast is ^, as before, and so 
on ad infiyiitum. 

Toss a coin for head or tail. The calculated 
chance is J. If at first you don't succeed, the 
calculated chance at the second toss is still ^, 
and so on forever. In the absence of all know- 
ledge concerning the conditions of the toss or 
cast, there is no calculable likelihood of one result 
more than another. Many combat this theory 
by claiming that its results are contradicted by 
experience; that the latter teaches that events, 
the happening of which is governed by an even 
chance, occur either alternately (first in one way 
and then in the other), or at least most frequently 
in a manner which does not deviate much from 
such order. Concerning this last proposition, 
R. A. Proctor, the celebrated astronomer, says : 

In easting a coin a great number of times, we do not 
find that the occurrence of a great number of successive 
heads or tails in any way aifects the average proportion 
of heads or tails coming next after the series. Thus I 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 93 

have before me the record of a series of 16,317 tossings, 
in which the number of sequences of tails (only) were 
rendered ; and I find that after 271 cases, in which tails 
had been tossed 5 times in succession, the next tossing 
gave in 132 cases heads and in 139 cases tails. Among 
the 16,317 tossings, two cases occurred in which tail was 
tossed 15 times in succession, which, as it happens, is 
more than theory would regard as probable. 

The first two illustrations and the last two 
may be made to coincide by supposing, in the 
two former, the ball drawn to be returned to the 
urn before the next drawing in every instance, 
making all analogous to the conditions affecting 
the result of a deal at Whist. To continue the 
illustration to be derived from tossing the coin, 
if both sides of the coin are of equal weight, 
there is no need to seek a better example of the 
occurrence of an even chance than would be 
furnished by the fair tossing of the same. If 
one side is heavier than the other, as is sometimes 
the case with that bearing the head, that side will 
more frequently be underneath, as seems to have 
been the case in the experiment cited by Proctor ; 
for, with an equally balanced coin and fair toss- 
ing, the chance for heads or tails fifteen times 
in succession would have been but 1 in 32,768, not 
2 in 16,317. Such a discrepancy cannot well be 
accounted for otherwise. 

The calculation is as follows : With a fair coin 



94 WINNING WHIST 

and fair toss, the chance of head or tail is equal, 
and expressed by the fraction J. The antecedent 
probability that a given event will happen twice 
in succession is found by multiplying by itself 
the fraction expressing the original chance. The 
chance that heads or tails would be thrown twice 
in succession would therefore be J x J = J ; or, 
the single event having a probability of occur- 
ring once in one series of two tossings, the double 
event has a probability of occurring once in four 
series of two tossings. Thus, the numerator of 
the fraction constantly remaining at unity, rep- 
resenting certainty, the denominator in this case 
would be 2^, or 4. The chance or probability of 
such an occurrence taking place three times in suc- 
cession would be expressed by^xjxj = j^ = j-; 
and for fifteen times in succession, by J multi- 
plied by itself fifteen times, or ^^^ = 3 2 f e s^- This, 
as has been before indicated, does not mean that 
a run of fifteen consecutive heads or tails must 
necessarily occur in the given number of casts, 
but that it probably would ; and the larger the 
number of experimental casts, the more nearly 
will the results of the calculation and the experi- 
ment coincide. In a very large number of series 
of fifteen casts, a person constantly betting 32,- 
767 to 1, against the success of the attempt to 
cast head fifteen times in succession, should have 
won just as much as he has lost ; so, too, in con- 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 95 

stantly betting a uniform sum, even, upon head 
as the result of each cast, or, in like manner, 
upon tail. The chance being even and the bet 
uniform, in a very large number of cases the 
cash account must balance. 

How in case of discarding system and simply 
making a like bet founded upon unbiassed guess- 
work in each instance 1 Here it would seem that 
the player in a like number of cases should lose 
three times as much as he would win. Thus, if 
he has no greater reason for guessing one way 
than the other, it is always an even chance 
whether he guesses head or tail; it is likewise 
always an even chance which will be thrown. 
Therefore, the chance that he will guess heads 
being J, and that heads will be thrown being J, 
the combined chance that he will guess heads 
and that heads will be thrown in any instance, 
and vice versa, may be expressed by J x J =: ^, or 
1 chance in 4, 3 to 1 against him. 

Suppose the coin to be unequal to such an ex- 
tent that tail is cast twice as frequently as head. 
One constantly betting upon tails would aver- 
age winning twice in every three times ; if bet- 
ting upon heads, once in three times. How in 
case of unbiassed guesswork ? Here the ohance 
of his guessing tail and tail being thrown would 
be J X § = f , or J. His best winning chance has 
become no better than his worst when adhering 



96 WINNING WHIST 

to system 5 while that chance becomes propor- 
tionately worse, i.e., the chance of guessing head 
and that head will be thrown would be ^ x J=i, 
a winning chance of but 1 in 6, or adverse odds 
of 5 to 1. 

Suppose the guess is not unbiassed. Suppose 
that the player has observed that tail is cast 
twice as frequently as head, and, not content 
with adhering to system and so winning twice 
out of three times, attempts to better his chance 
by guessing tail, say, twice as frequently as he 
does head. Here the best winning chance would 
be § X f = f , and the worst, ^ x ^ = ^. The sum 
of his winning chances would be 4 in 9 guesses 
of tails, plus 1 in 9 guesses of heads, equalling 
5 times in 18 casts, or -^. By adhering to the 
winning system, his winning chance would have 
been 2 to 1 ; by introducing even systematic 
guesswork it would be, in this case, changed to 
1 to 2f , worse than reversed. 

These suggestions and calculations are intro- 
duced, not because of their speciJBc application 
to the game of pitch and toss, but because the 
principles embodied therein are of general ap- 
plication to games of chance, or chance and 
skill, among the latter of which is included Whist. 
In all such games a player can deserve success 
only by playing a system based upon an analysis 
of the game into its elements and a calculation 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 97 

of its probabilities— in games of chance making 
his bets systematically in accordance with those 
probabilities, and in games of mingled chance 
and skill so directing his play in all cases where- 
in he has no information. 

But, it may be objected, if this theory is cor- 
rect, and barring games wherein skill may en- 
counter superior skill, why, in games of pure 
chance, might not a system be devised which 
would certainly enable the player to win ? The 
answer is. There has been. To return to pitch 
and toss, the simple expedient of doubling the 
bet after every loss, applied to constant betting 
upon the same one of two even chances, would, 
if persisted in, inevitably enable a player to win. 
The weak point of this old '^ martingale '^ is that, 
though a winner in the long run, repeated 
doubling will frequently reach the limit fixed by 
the pocket or upon the game before a short ^^ run 
of luck" is exhausted. The winning chance is 
based upon an infinite series, and the losing 
upon a finite one. 

A modification of this system, which promises 
better results, is open, though in far less degree, 
to the same objection. It is as follows : The pre- 
ceding system of betting is based upon the fact 
that a single win will recoup all past losses and 
leave the player ahead of the game by the 
amount of his original losing wager, the latter 



98 WINNING WHIST 

upon the principle that a single win will offset 
two losses. In a game of even chances a player 
shonldj in the long run, win as often as lose ; 
and hence, in anything approaching that result, 
this system must certainly be a winner, limits 
being barred. Its crowning merit, however, 
consists in the fact that, judiciously played, there 
is but little likelihood of reaching a limit in a 
fair game. Let the player determine the amount 
which he will win in his original series of bets, 
bearing in mind that, in this case, modesty is an 
element of success. Suppose him to decide upon 
winning but $10, starting with a $5 bet. Let him 
take a blank card and set down, near its upper 
left-hand corner, 5-5 j lower down, near the left- 
hand margin, let him write W. as an abbreviation 
for winnings ; and below that, L., to represent 
losses. Then let him make his bet, which we will 
suppose him to lose. He must now write another 
5 at the right of those in the upper line and also 
enter it after L. in the line for losses. He then 
adds together the figures at each end of the upper 
line, and wagers their amount, $10, constantly 
betting upon the same one of the two chances. 
This he also loses, writing 10 at the right of the 
upper line upon his card and also in the line for 
losses. He again adds together the figures at each 
end of the upper line, and wagers their amount, 
$15. This we wiU suppose that he wins and writes 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 99 

in the line for winnings, cancelling the figures at 
the extremities of the upper line, 10 and 5. Let 
him continue losing twice in succession, then 
winning once, until, after the twelfth, which 
would be a winning wager, he also wins the 
thirteenth. All the figures in the upper line 
will now be cancelled. He will have lost eight 
times and won but five times. His aggregate 
losses will be found to be $135, his winnings 
$145, and he is $10 ahead of the game, Q. E. D. 
His highest bet was $45, and the result was in- 
evitable, barring a limit in game or pocket. 
The card should be as follows, excepting the 
numbers of the wagers, which are here superim- 
posed in each line, and except that the figures in 
the upper line should all be cancelled, the winning 
bets upon which the cancellation should have oc- 
curred being here indicated by the leger figures : 

3 6 9 3 12 6 13 9 13 12 

5-5-5-10-10-15-15-20-25-35 

3 6 9 12 13 

W. 15-20-25-45-40 =145 

12 4 5 7 8 10 11 

L. 5-10-10-15-15-20-25-35 = 135 

10 

To show how even an infallible system may 
fare when it comes in collision with a table limit 



100 WINNING WHIST 

(an irresistible force meeting an immovable body), 
attention is called to the following instance, 
wherein the player, determining to win $25, ar- 
ranged his five 5^s on the upper line of his card 
and commenced prosperously by winning his 
first four bets even. He then lost three times in 
succession, and thereafter alternately won once 
and lost twice until his nineteenth wager, a loss 
of $90. His next wager, pursuant to the sys- 
tem, should be $90 + $25 = $115, which is in ex- 
cess of the customary table limit of $100, which 
obtains, at option of the banker, in some of 
the larger and less disreputable establishments. 
It is true that he may wager the limit with an 
even chance of winning ; but, even if he does so 
and wins, he must again wager the limit in order 
to extricate himself, and the antecedent proba- 
bility of success in both events is but 1 in 4. 
Should he win one wager and lose one, he is, so 
far as his system is concerned, still more in- 
volved ; at best he can but continue betting, with 
an even chance of winning individual wagers, 
instead of pursuing a system which would give 
a certainty of success, unless he accepts the fact 
that his system has broken down and quits or 
commences anew 5 either of which involves a 
loss on his first series of $195, the excess of 
losses over winnings. His card will be less sat- 
isfactory than the first, but at least equally in- 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 101 

structive; and, subject to the same explana- 
tions and exceptions as before, will be as fol- 
lows; 

1 2 3 4 8 11 14 8 17 11 14 17 

5_5_5_5_5-5_10-15-15-20-25-35-40-55-65-90 

12 3 4 8 11 14 17 

W. 5-5-5-5-20-25-45-70 =180 

195 

5 6 7 9 10 12 13 15 16 18 19 

L. 5-10-15-15-20-25-35-40-55-65-90 = 375 

To return briefly to the consideration of the 
somewhat popular but erroneous proposition 
that events, the happening of which is governed 
by an even chance (as in the tossing of a coin), 
occur either actually or approximately in alter- 
nation, the attention of the reader is invited to 
the following table, which shows all the possible 
different combinations resulting from six con- 
secutive tossings of a coin. These are sixty-four, 
the chance of each being -gi^. So far from sub- 
stantial alternation being the rule, it will be found 
that the chance for a run of three or more in 
any series of six is 19 to 13, or 59 in 100 ; that 
the chance of head, tail, or vice versa, throughout 
such a series is but 1 to 63, which is precisely 
that of heads or tails six times in succession. 
Nevertheless, in the entire aggregation of com- 
binations, head is represented precisely as many 
times as tail, being 192 times in a total of 384. 



102 



WINNING WHIST 



COMBINATIONS. 


H H 


H 


H 


H 


H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T T 


H H 


H 


H 


H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T H 


H H 


H 


H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


H H 


H H 


H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


H 


H H 


H H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


H 


H 


H H 


H T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


T 


H 


H 


H 


H H 


H T 


H 


H 


H 


H 


T 


H 


T 


T 


T T 


H H 


T 


H 


H 


H 


T 


T 


H 


T 


T T 


H H 


H 


T 


H 


H 


T 


T 


T 


H 


T T 


H H 


H 


H 


T 


H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


H T 


H T 


T 


H 


H 


H 


T 


H 


H 


T 


T T 


H H 


T 


T 


H 


H 


T 


T 


H 


H 


T T 


H H 


H 


T 


T 


H 


T 


T 


T 


H 


H T 


H T 


T 


T 


H 


H 


T 


H 


H 


H 


T T 


H H 


T 


T 


T 


H 


T 


T 


H 


H 


H T 


H T 


T 


T 


T 


H 


T 


H 


H 


H 


H T 


H T 


H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


H 


T 


H 


H H 


H T 


H 


T 


T 


H 


T 


H 


T 


H 


H T 


H T 


H 


T 


H 


H 


T 


H 


T 


H 


T T 


H T 


H 


T 


H 


T 


T 


H 


T 


H 


T H 


H H 


T 


H 


T 


H 


T 


T 


H 


T 


H T 


H H 


H 


T 


H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


H 


T H 


H H 


T 


H 


H 


T 


T 


T 


H 


T 


T H 


H H 


T 


H 


T 


T 


T 


T 


H 


T 


H H 


H H 


T 


T 


H 


T 


T 


T 


H 


H 


T H 


H T 


T 


H 


T 


T 


T 


H 


H 


T 


H H 


H T 


T 


H 


H 


T 


T 


H 


H 


T 


T H 


H T 


T 


H 


T 


H 


T 


H 


H 


T 


H T 


H T 


T 


T 


H 


T 


T 


H 


H 


H 


T H 


H T 


H 


H 


T 


H 


T 


H 


T 


T 


H T 


H T 


H 


H 


T 


T 


T 


H 


T 


T 


H H 


H T 


H 


H 


H 


T 


T 


H 


T 


T 


T H 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 103 

As in the preceding table the probability of 
the happening of any one of the 64 different 
series of six is the same as that of any other (J^), 
so in Whist any one combination of the entire 
52 cards is just as probable as any other. Thus 
the probability that each hand will contain one 
entire suit is neither more nor less than for the 
occurrence of any other named combination 
comprising all of the cards. According to Dr. 
Pole's computations (ignoring the changes re- 
sulting from changing the trump or interchang- 
ing the respective hands), the total number of 
different ways in which the 52 cards may be dis- 
tributed among the four players is 

53, 644, 737, 765, 488, 792, 839, 237, 440, 000. 

This is a sum which renders it highly probable 
that a player will never be dealt two hands ex- 
actly alikCc It throws, too, a flood of light upon 
the following statements of the same author : 

People fancy they can become good players by mere 
practice, which is a great mistake ; they only move on 
in one eternal blundering round. The philosophical 
game has been the result of years upon years of elabo- 
rate thought and incessant experiment, and you can no 
more arrive at it by your own limited experience than 
you could become acquainted with modern scientific as- 
tronomy by watching for a few weeks the apparent motion 
of the stars. 



104 WINNING WHIST 

Though Shakespeare wrote, ^^ Experience is 
the school where men learn wisdom/' if one were 
inclined to moraUze the thought might occur, if 
the above is true of the possible combinations of 
52 cards, divided into four hands of 13 each, 
what is the relative value of individual experi- 
ence, as compared with general philosophy, in 
the myriad happenings of daily life ? Who has 
the best of it, the empiric or the philosopher? 
"What is a philosopher? One who opposes 
nature to law, reason to usage, conscience to 
opinion, and his judgment to error/' 

Another table is added, showing the proba- 
bility, before the deal, of winning or losing tricks 
in each deal It also shows the actual results 
of the play of 1666 hands transposed to the 
basis of 8192 for comparison (showing the effect 
of volition upon chance), and as reduced to the 
proportion of 1000 hands in each case to indi- 
cate the percentage. The data for the same, both 
calculation and experiment, were found in Dr. 
William Pole's " Philosophy of Wliist." Of course 
when one side does not take a trick, the other has 
thirteen, .and vice versa. So, too, with reference 
to all other combinations. 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 



105 



PROBABILITY OF WINNING TRICKS. 


Calculation. 


Experi- 
ment. 


Calculation. 


Experiment. 


Tricks. 


Times. 


Times. 


Tricks. 


Times. 


Times. 


Tricks. 




1 

3 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

13 

13 


1 

13 

78 

386 

715 

1387 

1716 

1716 

1387 

715 

386 

78 

13 

1 


17 

91 

343 

455 

870 

1063 

1357 

1357 

1063 

870 

455 

343 

91 

17 


13 

13 

11 

10 

9 

8 

7 

6 

5 

4 

3 

3 

1 




000 
003 
010 
035 
087 
157 
309 
309 
157 
087 
035 
010 
003 
000 


003 
Oil 
030 
056 
106 
139 
166 
166 
139 
106 
056 
030 
Oil 
003 



1 
3 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
13 
13 




8193 


8190 




1000 


1000 





Many other specific applications, to our game, 
of the Theory of Probabilities, are reserved for 
the following chapter; but it may be well to 
suggest here that, with three, four, or five cards 
in suit, it is better than an even chance that the 
suit will go round twice ; with three in suit, that 
it will go round three times about 28 times in 
100 5 and with four in suit, about 11 times. Of 
course about one third of the time the partner 
of the leader should renounce on the third round, 
giving better than an even chance of getting a 
trick with the best of a short suit third round. 
Matthews says, " The following calculations are 
sufficient for a beginner ; deeper ones frequently 
puzzle even the proficient. 



106 WINNING WHIST 

" That either player has not one named card 
not in your hand is 

2tol 
5 to 4 in favor of his having 1 of 2 
5 to 2 '' '' '' lin3 

4tol '' '' '' lin4/' 

In conclusion, attention is once more invited 
to the fact that the calculation of chances, as 
applied to Whist, is not and does not profess to 
be a means for determining by mathematical 
operations the specific contents of any particu- 
lar hand or hands. It merely indicates the 
probable results of steadfast adherence to a fixed 
system of play, and the probable average contents 
of an infinite number of hands. On this point 
John Stuart Mill expresses himself as follows : 

A general average should only be applied to a ease 
which is neither known, nor can be presumed, to be other 
than an average case. Such averages, therefore, are 
commonly of little use for the practical guidance of any 
affairs but those which concern large numbers. Tables 
of the chances of life are useful to insurance offices, but 
they go a very little way towards informing any one of 
the chances of his own life or any other life in which he 
is interested, since almost every life is either better or 
worse than the average. 

For determining the contents of any specific 
hand all such general computations and averages 
are of no value whatever. As the basis of all 



ON CHANCE AND CHANCES 107 

scientific play they are simply indispensable. 
Fronde, the historian, says, ^^ Philosophy goes 
no further than probabilities, and in every asser- 
tion keeps a doubt in reserve.'^ The following 
is from Best's admirable work, ^^ The Principles 
of the Law of Evidence '' : 

The mathematical calculus of probabilities, or Doctrine 
of Chances, has, as is well known, been found of essen- 
tial service in various political and social matters appa- 
rently unconnected with the exact sciences. . . . 

"La plupart de nos jugements," says one of the most 
distinguished writers upon it [La Place], ^^etant fondes 
sur la probabilite des temoignages, il est bien important 
de la soumettre au calcul. La chose, il est vrai, devient 
souvent impossible, par la difficulte d'appr^cier la v^racit^ 
des temoins, et par le grand nombre de circonstances dont 
les f aits quails attestent sont accompagnes. Mais on pent, 
dans plusiers cas, resoudre de problemes qui ont beaucoup 
d'analogie avec les questions qu^on se propose, et dont les 
solutions peuvent etre regardees comme des approxima- 
tions propres a nous guider, et a nous garantir des erreurs 
et des dangers auxquels de mauvais raisonnements nous 
exposent. Une approximation de ce genre, lorsqu^elle est 
bien conduite, est toujours preferable aux raisonnements 
les plus sp^cieux.^' 

The calculus of probabilities has accordingly been ap- 
plied, in English treatises on evidence, to hypothetical 
states of facts to illustrate the value of different kinds of 
evidence. 



CHAPTER X 

PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 

I cannot omit one observation : Though with good 
players the lead nearly counterbalances the advantages 
of the deal, with bad ones it is of little or no advantage ; 
of course it increases that of the dealer. The first lead 
in both games [Long and Short Whist] requires judgment, 
and is so little comprehended that it is generally twelve 
to one a wrong card is played, and the fate of the whole 
hand frequently depends upon it.— Matthews. 

The preceding chapters, so far as relating to 
the play, are strictly orthodox. This one, on 
hasty reading, may be considered rank heresy ; 
yet it is hoped that unprejudiced investigation 
will prove that, in this case as in many others, 
the supposed heresy consists merely in logically 
extending the application of the cardinal tenets 
of the true and accepted doctrine. Any appa- 
rent latitudinarianism herein is to be ascribed to 
the writer's understanding of the influeig^ce of 
the deal upon the distribution of the different 
108 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 



109 



suits in the several hands, that of the trump 
suit being of paramount importance. 

Pole, in that most excellent treatise, ^^The 
Philosophy of Whist/' computes that the dealer 
should hold an average of 3.82 trumps, and each 
of the other players, 3.06. In a practical experi- 
ment of 1000 deals, he found the dealer's average 
3.814 ; first hand's, 3.110 ; second hand's, 3.119 ; 
and third hand's, 2.957. The calculated proba- 
bility of holding honors is shown by the follow- 
ing table I 



HOLDING HONORS. 


-1 

IS 
^1 


Probability 
before Dealing. 


Probability 
an Honor Turned. 


Probability 
No Honor Turned. 


11 


Times m 100 
Deals. 


Times in 100 
Deals. 


Times in 100 
Deals. 


4 


7 


11 


5 





3 


28 


38 


34 


1 


2 


39 


39 


39 


3 


1 


33 


13 


36 


3 





4 


00 


6 


4 




100 


100 


100 





110 



WINNING WHIST 



The probable distribution of each full suit 
of 13 cards into long and short suits in the 
various hands is approximately shown in the 
following table, compiled from data found in the 







^' 


•OOimsaraii 


^^ S -^^ 


s 




8 8^ 


8^ 








1 














?5 


•s:nns :»J[oqs 


^co 


iH 


0^ 


o 


tH 


1 


^ 


g 


^ 


S 


S 


g 


•s^rag Suot: 


jrH <M 


©« 


CO 


CO 


i 




^g^g^ 




pj 




. . 


1 


, 
























*3 






-2 


























, 




Ph 


03 


§ 





CO 


^18 


SS 


^ 


g 


<M 


CO 














11 

B 

s 


1 


PI 

1 


CO 


























tH 


QO 


8 


^ 


^ 


CO 


^ 


1—1 


o 




H 




































, 


g 


1 


:co 


^ 


fe 


^ 


g 


8 


^ 


CO 










i 






1 


.a 
s 


00 




















& 




1 


















pq 

M 


i 




;! 






;i-i 


QO 


o: 


^ 


^ 


S 


-* 


tH 


-3 
P 

rn 


1 


"3 

5^ 


1 






















H 
ft 


•s 




1 


1 


CO 


15 


i 


i 


s 


S? 


OS 


CO 


p. 


- 


^ 

rt 




h:; 






fe* 


a 


CO 


















H 




1^ 


3 


< 
































Pi 








P 


i 


4^* 


















■* 


►3 


3 


^ 








H 


i 


r-l 


05 


^ 


g^ 


55 


S 


CO 


rH 





















'^ 























































1 


II 

•13 


is 

H.a 


Oi 


S 


^ 


§^ 


s 


o 


CO 


^ 










C 


So 
























1 


H.a 


o 


CO 


^ 


^ 


s 


OS 


CO 


Si 










•!»n 


IS ui sp. 


reo JO jgqran^ 


o 


rH <M 


CO -«!>< lO ko 


t-^h 


t 





above-cited work. The table likewise shows the 
probable combinations of such suits in each 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 111 

hand; as, according to Dr. Pole, ^^The proba- 
bility of any given distribution of a named suit 
in the four hands is the same as the probability 
of the same distribution of the four suits in one 
hand." Some slight sacrifice of extreme accuracy 
to convenience has been made in reducing the 
numbers involved to the basis of percentage ; 
but it in no way affects their value for the pres- 
ent purpose. 

A further analysis of Dr. Pole's data will de- 
monstrate the probability that the distribution 
of each 166 long suits will be as follows : 



1 long suit only 38 38 

38 
1 long and 2 shorter long suits . . 1 3 

1 long and 1 shorter long suit ... 32 64 

33 ♦ 

71 

2 suits of equal length 26 52 

3 suits of equal length 3 9 

29 

100 100 166 



It follows that in every 100 times that a player 
holds a long suit of any given kind, trumps, for 
instance, the best long suit of trumps will be 
held (by some one, himseK or another) the same 
number of times. In other words, 100 of the 166 
long suits, or 60 per cent, of the whole number. 



112 WINNING WHIST 

are best snits. Taking the sub-totals from the 
preceding table, an analysis of this 60 per cent, 
reveals the following : 

38 X .60 =r 22.8 

33 X .60 = 19.8 42.6 

29 X .60 = 17.4 

60 

Hence, in every 100 long trump suits, the best 
suit will probably be held about 60 times j the 
longest suit, about 43 times in the 60 ; and that, 
of two or more equal in length, which contains 
the best cards, about 17 times. Thus whenever 
a player holds a long trump suit, the chance that 
it is the best of its kind is 60 in 100, or 60 per 
cent. ; and, of that, the percentage of longest 
suits is .71, and of strongest in suits of equal 
length, .29. In other words, 42.6 and 17.4 are 
respectively 71 and 29 per cent, of 60. These 
percentages may be applied later to the calcula- 
tion of various probabiUties of trump superiority 
as concerning the probabilities of the successful 
play of the long-suit game. 

All of these calculations concerning long suits 
are of importance for the purposes of this chap- 
ter, not because a long weak plain suit is an ele- 
ment of strength in an otherwise weak hand, for 
the contrary is the fact ; but because of two other 
considerations : first, the greater the number of 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 113 

unknown cards of any suit in one hand, the greater 
the probability of more than an average of high 
cards of that suit in that hand 5 and, second, 
long suits are the basis of the conventional sys- 
tem of leads and the resulting play, known as 
the long-suit game or play. The second of these 
propositions has been demonstrated in preceding 
pages. The first may be verified by a glance at 
the preceding table concerning the holding of 
honors ; wherein it appears that, before the trump 
has been turned, there is a calculated probability 
that the dealers (meaning the dealer and his 
partner) will hold four honors seven times in 
100 deals; but after a small card has been 
turned, only five times. The only change in the 
situation introduced by the deal is that one of 
their trumps is now known not to be an honor, 
reducing their average number of unknown 
cards in that suit from 6.88 to 5.88. Under the 
same circumstances, the probability of three 
honors before the deal is 28 times in 100 deals ; 
after the deal, but 24 in 100. 

In this connection may be considered the 
somewhat similar proposition that, if one hand 
is shorter than the average in a given suit, the 
partner's hand is probably longer, and vice versa, 
thus approximating the total to the joint aver- 
age of the two hands. This is exemplified in 
Dr. Pole's calculations and experiment regard- 



114 WINNINa WHIST 

ing the trump suit. The calculated probability, 
or average, for non-dealers was found to be 3.06 ; 
the joint average, 6.12. In 1000 deals, the eldest 
hand held 3110 and his partner 2957 ; the one 
50 above and the other 103 below the calculated 
average. The joint holding of the two hands is 
6067, or 53 below, being less than i^ of 1 per cent. 
The subject of this chapter is the play of the 
eldest hand ; not because of any special art or 
mystery connected with it as such, but for the 
reason that other players are guided more or less 
by preceding play, while the eldest hand has to 
make the opening lead without knowledge of any 
other cards than the trump turned and the con- 
tents of his own hand. Matthews well says, 
^' The first lead . . . requires judgment.'^ This 
does not indicate an unreasoning adherence to 
the long-suit system, though he gave to that a 
qualified adhesion, as evidenced by the follow- 
ing: 

The best leads are from sequences of three cards or 
more. If you have none, lead from your most numerous 
suit if strong in triinq^s. . . . 

Cards being nearly equal, the point to which all the 
manoeuvres of good Whist-players tend is to establish a 
long suit, and to preserve the last trump to bring it into 
play, and to frustrate the same play of their adversaries. 

The italics in these extracts do not appear in 
the original, but are here introduced to attract 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 115 

attention to a point which will recur later. 
Meantime the following is from Cavendish : 

The considerations that determine the most advanta- 
geous card to lead at the commencement of a hand differ 
from those which regulate the lead at other periods, for 
at starting the Doctrine of Probabilities is the only guide ; 
while, as the hand advances, each player is able, with 
more or less certainty, to draw inferences as to the posi- 
tion of some of the remaining cards. 

The Doctrine of Probabilities teaches that 
the dealer holds, as a,n average, 25 per cent, 
more trumps than that doctrine concedes to 
either of the other players. It likewise teaches 
that about 4 times in 100 three of the four 
hands will be long in each of the four suits ; 
that about 58 times in 100 two hands will be 
thus long, while only about 38 times in 100 will 
one hand be long and the other three short in 
any given suit. From this it follows that about 
4 times in 100 any named hand should con- 
tain three long suits; that about 58 times in 
100 any specified hand should contain two long 
suits; and about 38 times in 100 one long and 
three short suits. It further appears that, in 
100 deals, each suit of cards will be divided into 
about 166 long and 229 short suits^ and, conse- 
quently, that, in the same number of deals, each 
hand will contain about 166 long and 229 short 
suits, each hand averaging about 1§ long suits. 



116 WINNING WHIST 

With this scanty amount of information each 
player is provided, before examining his hand^. 
at each deal; and from this, and the informa- 
tion derived from the trump turned, and an 
examination of his own cards, must the eldest 
hand determine the opening lead after each 
dealc 

Whether the opening lead is from the trump 
or a plain suit, it must necessarily be from a 
long or a short one. The great majority of the 
modern authorities contend that the long suit 
should generally be chosen, for these reasons : 
If the long suit is established, and brought in 
after the adverse trumps have been drawn, a 
trick will be taken with each of the long cards 
of that suit, regardless of their intrinsic value. 
Even though the suit is not so brought in, it is 
claimed that the commanding cards thereof may 
be used with great effect in forcing the adverse 
strong trump hand; that the long-suit system 
affords the best basis for the combined play of 
partner's hands, and, consequently, the greatest 
returns in tricks taken ; that it is the best defen- 
sive play, as, in addition to the foregoing, it 
offers the least chance of assisting an adversary 
in establishing a long suit ; and, finally, that it 
conveys the greatest amount of information to 
partner, thus enabling him at times to win an 
additional trick or two by a brilhant coup at the 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 117 

close of the play. A cnrsory examination of the 
foundation of this faith is proposed. 

Full success in the long-suit play requires the 
accomplishment of three things, viz. : that the 
long suit be established ; that the adverse trumps 
be exhausted or drawn ; and that the long suit 
be thereafter brought in or led. A suit is es- 
tablished when, trumping barred, the holder of 
the longest suit of a given kind, having the lead, 
can take a trick with every card thereof remain- 
ing in his hand. Adverse trumps are exhausted 
when none of that suit remains in the hands of 
the adversaries; they are drawn by the party 
leading them. An established suit is brought 
in when the holder obtains the lead and plays 
the suit. It is evident from the foregoing that 
the essentials to the successful playing of the 
long-suit game are superiority in trumps and 
superiority in a long plain suit, and, finally, in 
many cases, a card of reentry (being a winning 
card, of the trump suit or otherwise) to enable 
the holder of the established suit to bring it in. 
The long-suit game is the play of the strong 
hand. Conceding to one partner or the other 
probable superiority in a long plain suit when- 
ever either has the best of the trump suit, it 
would follow that the probability of success in 
this system should be the same as that of supe- 
riority in trumps. 



118 WINNING WHIST 

Assuming that there is always one trump 
hand superior to all others in every deal, in 100 
deals there must be a Kke number of superior 
hands out of about 166 long trump suits ^ hence 
the percentage of probable superiority would be 
the same as the ratio of 166 to 100, or .60, as has 
been before seen. 

Reference to the table of General Distribution 
shows that the dealer will probably hold a long 
trump suit 58 times in 100, and his partner, as 
also each other player, 36 times. Before the 
deal the combined chance of trump superiority 
for the dealer and his partner is represented by 
(58 + 36) X .60 = 57 times (nearly) in 100 ; that of 
the eldest hand and his partner, in like manner, 
should be (36 + 36) x .60 = 43 times in 100, hardly 
of itself a winning probability. 

As abstract probability always yields to and 
is modified by known facts, it is now desirable 
to ascertain the probability of success in the 
long-suit play, as it appears to each player after 
the deal and before the commencement of the 
play— after the trump has been turned and the 
player has looked at his own cards. The dealer, 
when holding a long trump suit, would have his 
own probabihty of superiority, 60 in 100, plus 
that of his partner, which will require further 
consideration. In 100 times, when the dealer 
was so favored, the remaining 66 long trump 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 119 

suits would probably be divided among the other 
players about equally, resulting in 22 each. 
Hence the dealer's partner, the second hand, 
should hold 22 thereof in those 100 times, and 
his chance of trump superiority should be ex- 
pressed by 22 X .60 — 13 (fractions less than J 
being ignored, and others reckoned as one). It 
thus appears that when the dealer holds a long 
trump suit he may calculate his chance of suc- 
cess in the long-suit play as 60 + 13 = 73, or 
(100 -f 22) X. 60 = 73 times in 100. When the 
dealer is short of trumps, it is probable that in 
100 times each other player would hold a long 
trump suit about 55 times; and the dealer's 
probability, based upon his partner's probable 
holding of trumps^ would be 55 x .60 = 33 times 
in 100. 

The chance of the dealer's partner would be 
more favorable, owing to the fact that, of the 
long trump suits not held by himself, the dealer 
should hold more than either of the other players 
by the ratio of 36 to 58. Thus, wiien the second 
hand holds a long trump suit, in 100 times the 
dealer should hold another about 30 times, and 
each of the others about 18. The second hand's 
probability of success would thus be (100 + 30) 
X .60 = 78 times in 100. When this player is 
short of trumps, his chance, based upon the 
dealer's probable holding (74 to 46 for each of 



120 WINNING WHIST 

the others), in like manner^ would be 74 x .60 = 44 
times in 100. 

The chances of the eldest hand and his partner 
are equal, and so may be considered together. 
In 100 times, when the eldest hand held a long 
trump suit, the long trump suits would probably 
be divided about as follows : 

Eldest hand , 100 

Second '' 18 

Third '' 18 

Dealer 30 

166 

The eldest hand's probability of success in the 
long-suit play, when holding a long trump suit 
himself, would thus be (100 + 18) x .60 =: 71 times 
in 100. When this player is short of trumps, the 
long trump suits would probably be divided in 
the following manner : 

Eldest hand 

Second " 46 

Third '' 46 

Dealer 74 

166 

Here the eldest hand's chance, based upon his 
partner's probable holding of trumps, and vice 
versctj would be 46 x .60 = 28 times in 100. These 
results may be summarized. The calculated 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 121 

probability of success in the long-suit play for 
each player, when himself long in trumps (being 
the same as for superiority in trumps), is as fol- 
lows: 

Dealer 73 times in 100 > ^ ^ 

c< J T, J rro Lc -I /^n r -Partners 
Second hand 78 ' ^ 100 S 

Eldest ^^ ....71 '' 100 > ,^ 

Third '' ....71 '' 100 S 

When short in trumps, the like probability for 
each player is thus : 

Dealer » . . 33 times in 100 ? ^ . 

Second hand .... 44 '' 100 S ^^^^^^^« 

Eldest " ....28 '' 100 
Third " ....28 '' 100 

These probabilities presuppose perfect play for 
the purpose indicated, but, even so, are adverse 
to success, unless the long trump suit is actually 
in hand. Even then, of the 60 per cent, of 
favorable chances, 29 per cent, represent the 
probability that one or more trump suits of 
equal length, but less strength, will be extant, 
a position subject to a considerable chapter of 
accidents. It is, of course, possible that a 
trump suit originally weaker may be made to 
become the stronger through the instrumentality 
of lucky and skilful forcing of the strong trump 
hand ; but the probabilities, as was said of old 
concerning the heathen gods, are with the 



122 WINNING WHIST 

stronger. The minimum of trump strength 
which^ with skill, may suffice to make the long- 
suit play successful is said to be four, an honor, 
or, possibly, a ten. Matthews says, ^^Witli an 
honor (or even a ten), with three other trumps, 
by well managing them, you have a right to ex- 
pect success." 

It seems to be sufficiently established that when 
the eldest hand holds not less than the named 
minimum of trump strength (probably less than 
36 times in 100 consecutive deals) the conven- 
tional long-suit play should be adopted for the 
opening lead as strictly in accordance with the 
Doctrine of Probabilities. 

Here, perhaps better than elsewhere, attention 
may be called to the fact that, aside from its 
merits in direct attack and defence, the most 
scientific purpose to be effected by the universal 
adoption of this system is the conveying of in- 
formation by means of conventional play. This, 
if adhered to by all, will usually, in the course 
of the first six or seven tricks, indicate the posi- 
tion of every important unplayed card. The 
ending of the hand thus becomes ^^A Whist 
Problem,'^ wherein the skilled player is some- 
times enabled, by adapting his play to the in- 
ferred positions of the cards, to secure by a suc- 
cessful coup one or more tricks not otherwise 
attainable. Here, however, as elsewhere, to him 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 123 

who hath shall be given, as the position inures 
to the benefit only of skill combined with 
strength. It must follow that, in this respect, 
the long-suit play is disadvantageous to those 
partners who, together, hold weaker hands than 
their opponents. By adopting it they simply 
furnish information to be used against them- 
selves, thus playing their adversaries^ game. 

If the long-suit play is to be adopted by the 
eldest hand in those cases (probably less than 
36 in 100) wherein the chances for success are 
rather better than 71 in 100, there remains the 
question, What is the best system for the about 
twice as numerous cases where, being short of, 
or otherwise fatally weak in, trumps, the favor- 
able chances are only about 28 in 100 f The 
first and most obvious consideration is that, as 
compared with their opponents, the eldest hand 
and his partner are, when the contrary is not 
proved, probably weak. In 100 average hands, 
strong and weak together, the chances in their 
favor before the deal are but 43 in 100, while 
those favorable to their opponents are 57 in 100, 
a difference of 14 per cent, in favor of the dealer. 
A carefully conducted experiment by Dr. Pole, 
1000 deals played through on the long-suit sys- 
tem, resulted as follows : 

The dealers won the odd trick 182 times in 1000 deals, 
the non-dealers only 150 times. The dealers made a score 



124 WINNING WHIST 

by cards 580 times in 1000 deals ; the non-dealers made a 
score by cards only 420 times. This result is startling, 
as the casual impression is that the lead is of more ad- 
vantage than the deal for the odd trick. But the expla- 
nation lies in the great superiority as regards the holding 
of trumps which . . . always attends the dealer^s side. 

Matthews says, ^^The odd trick has always 
been supposed in favor of the leader; but this 
is an error, as the dealer has the advantage in 
this, as in every other score.'' 

It should, therefore, be conceded (as established 
by calculation, experiment, and authority) that 
(as compared with their opponents before the 
deal) the eldest hand and his partner are probably 
weak. In Dr. Pole's experiment, the difference 
in the number of times when a score by cards 
was made was 16 per cent, in favor of the dealer, 
corresponding quite closely to his calculated ad- 
vantage of 14 per cent, before the deal, in estab- 
lishing and bringing in a long plain suit, the 
probability being the same as for superiority in 
trumps. As coincidences, it may be interesting 
to note that, according to the preceding calcula- 
tions, the dealer should hold a long trump suit 
580 times in 1000, while his probable advantage 
in holding trump suits of five or more is just 15 
per cent., as may be ascertained by reference to 
the table of General Distribution. 

Toward an answer to the question about what 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 125 

is the best system for the opening play by the 
eldest hand when short of trumps, these data 
seem to be available : 1. Under such circum- 
stances the eldest hand and partner are very 
probably weaker than their adversaries; and 
Matthews indorses ^^ that maxim which enjoins 
you never to play a strong game with a weak 
hand, or vice versaJ^ 2. The long-suit play is 
that of the strong hand. 3. The opening lead 
must be from either a long or a short suit. 

The long-suit play seeming not particularly 
full of promise under the given conditions, the 
query naturally arises, What can be said in favor 
of a system based upon play from the short suit ? 
Upon this point Messrs. Cavendish and Clay may 
be permitted to testify as experts. Cavendish 
speaks : 

It is advisable in most eases where the game is desper- 
ate, and where it is clear that your partner must be strong 
in your weak suit to save the game, to lead your weakest 
suit. . . . Your partner should finesse deeply in the suit 
you lead him, and should not return it, but, actuated by 
motives similar to yours, should lead his weakest suit, in 
which you should finesse deeply, and continue your weak 
suit, and so on. 

Clay, under the title, ^^When to Disregard 
Rule,'' gives the following: 

Some such case is not very uncommon. Your adver- 
saries are very strong in trumps. They have commenced 



126 WINNING WHIST 

with three rounds of them, making the three first tricks, 
having four by honors, and having three trumps left, all 
three in the same hand. It is clear that if they can make 
one trick only in the other suits their game is won. You 
now win the fourth trick, and find yourself with one strong 
suit, say an ace, queen, ten, or an ace, king, knave, or ten 
suit, and with no strength whatever in the remaining two 
suits. 

Your first consideration will be that your partner must 
be strong in your weak suits. He need not have the whole 
of them, for if he is led to more than once, successful 
finesse in them may enable him to make all the tricks, 
although even two honors in one, or both of them, may 
be against him to his right. If you play your strong suit, 
you part with the possibility of getting the lead, and 
leading to your partner the suits in which, in order to 
save the game, he must be strong. You should therefore 
lead to him whichever of your two weak suits appears the 
more advantageous. He will finesse deeply, for the case 
is desperate, and if he succeeds he will, if he is a fine 
player, act on the same principle which dictated your play, 
and will lead to you his weak suit, which, of course, is 
your strong one. You finesse in your turn, lead to him 
again in a weak suit, and wait for him again to lead to 
your strength. You may readily be able to lead to him 
three times in this way. Both his tricks and yours will, 
at some time or other, be trumped, but for this you are 
prepared, and it cannot be helped, as there are three 
trumps against you in one hand, which must make. When 
your adversary trumps, he must lead up to you or your 
partner. I have seen many a desperate game saved in this 
way, and, as few things are less intelligible than an in- 
tricate combination merely described as above, I will place 
the cards in an order which will explain my meaning and 
enable you to play the hand with a successful result. 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 127 

Your hand is marked No. 1 ; your left-hand adversary's 
No. 2 ; and so on. 

1. Two small spades (trumps). Ace, king, knave, ten, 
in clubs. Ten and three small diamonds. Nine and two 
small hearts. 

2. Ace, king, and one small trump. Two small clubs. 
King, knave, and two small hearts. King, knave, and two 
small diamonds. 

3. Two small trumps. Three small clubs. Ace, queen, 
ten, and eight in hearts. Ace, queen, and two small dia- 
monds. 

4. Tierce to a queen and three small trumps. Queen, 
nine, eight, and one small club. Two small hearts. The 
nine in diamonds. 

No. 4 commences, and leads his queen of trumps, which 
makes, and he follows it with the knave. This his part- 
ner is obliged to win with the king, and, in order to draw 
as many trumps as he can, he plays out his ace. Both 
you and your partner renounce, he discarding a small 
club, and you a small diamond, for a reason to be given 
hereafter. It is now clear that, as No. 4 holds three more 
trumps, you must make every trick in the other suits in 
order to save the game. 

No. 2 still remains with the lead, and following your 
discard also because his diamonds are as strong as his 
hearts, he leads a small diamond, on which his partner 
can only put the nine won by your ten. If you play out 
your clubs, which is your only strong suit, you have lost 
the game. But as your partner must be strong in hearts, 
and as you do not wish to help to establish the diamonds 
of your opponents, you play your nine of hearts, which 
he passes. You continue the suit ; he takes the trick and 
leads you a club, when you finesse your ten, continue the 
heart, and the rest of the hand plays itself. You have 
made your seven tricks. 



128 WINNING WHIST 

If you are asked why you originally discarded a dia- 
mond when you held ten, four, in that suit, and only nine, 
three, in hearts, your reason is that in this exceptional 
case it is better for you to retain in each of your weak 
suits the power of leading as often as there may be occa- 
sion to your partner. 

In such cases as these the play I have advised is still 
more necessary if the trumps remaining in against you 
are to your left hand. For if you have all the best cards 
of a suit, and your partner some small cards in it, so that 
you are sure to force the strong hand, yet he when forced 
of necessity leads through your partner and up to the suits 
in which you have nothing, which is a more disadvanta- 
geous position than if your partner is led up to by you or 
by his other adversary. 

These extracts have been given at length be- 
cause they are the teachings of masters and set 
forth in masterly manner the leading principles 
of the weak- or short-suit play. The reader may 
ascertain how much the preliminary drawing of 
the trumps really affected the result by consider- 
ing No. 4, the dealer, and No. 1, the eldest hand. 
If the same lead be made by him, the same play 
continued to a force of the strong hand, and if 
trumps are then drawn, the result is the same. 
If Nos. 4 and 2, instead, unconventionally play 
for the ruff, their opponents make but five tricks. 
The reader may then try if he can do better for 
them by the long-suit system. By that system 
the strong suits are led, by the other, led up to, 
in the hand of the partner, and to the intrinsic 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 129 

strength of the suit is added that of position. 
By trying the experiment last suggested, the 
reader will find that the short-suit play above 
given just offsets the advantage which the adver- 
saries derived from the original lead. That such 
a line of play is at times correct in principle, let 
Cavendish bear witness : 

If you have not had the lead before, it is in most cases 
advisable to open your strong suit when you possess great 
strength in any suit, for you open such suit to advantage ; 
but with weak or only moderately strong [long] suits, 
which you open to a disadvantage, you would, as a rule, 
do better to return your partner^s original lead, or to lead 
up to the weak suit of your right-hand adversary, or 
through the strong suit of your left-hand adversary. When 
in doubt as to opening your own suit or returning your 
partner's, you should, as a general rule, be guided by your 
strength in trumps. With a strong trump hand, play your 
own game ; with a weak trump hand, play your partner's 
game. 

From some such considerations as these has 
arisen the so-called short-suit system, that of 
finesse and tenace instead of main strength, 
bearing about the same relation to the regular 
long-suit play as chess does to checkers. It 
should neither be hastily condemned nor indis- 
criminately adopted. 

Each thing in its place is best. 

The advantage of this system consists in its 
conceded effectiveness, under favorable circum- 



130 WINNING WHIST 

stances, in the play of hands devoid of or weak 
in trumps. Its disadvantages are due chiefly to 
the great difficulty at times, in the absence of a 
regular system, of recognizing the nature of the 
lead, as in this play partner's suit should never 
be returned, or a possible advantage of finesse 
or tenace sacrificed. It is usually quite as diffi- 
cult to find two players who can be relied upon 
to properly support each other in this system as 
to beat their game when found. 

To present more clearly and connectedly to the 
eye, as the open door to the understanding, the 
most probable arrangement of the various long 
suits in the several hands, the following table is 
introduced. The starting-point is the trump suit. 
It has been already set forth that, of the 166 
long trump suits probably extant in the course 
of 100 deals, the dealer will probably hold 58. 
The remainder, 108, equally apportioned among 
the other three players, will give them 36 each. 
It has likewise been specified that, in the course 
of 100 deals, each player would probably hold 
166 long suits. The dealer holding 58 long 
trump suits, his quota of long plain suits would 
be the difference between 58 and 166, or 108. 
This last number, equally apportioned among 
the three plain suits, would give a probability of 
36 long plain suits in each different plain suit of 
cards. Hence the dealer's hand will probably 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 



131 



average, for 100 times, 58 long trump suits and 
36 long plain suits of each kind, 166 all told. 
Similarly each non-dealer, averaging about 36 
long trump suits, would likewise average about 
130 long plain suits, 43^ each, viz. : 



LONG SUITS. 


Players. 


S 


Plain Suits. 


1 


Dealer 


58 


36 


36 


36 


166 




Eldest hand 


36 


4SVb 


4sys 


431/^ 


168 




Second liand 


36 


42Vs 


433^ 


43^ 


166 




Third hand 


36 


mi 


43^ 


43^ 


166 




Total 


166 


166 


166 


166 


664 





The probability above indicated is, of course, 
that obtaining before the deal, after which proba- 
bility is to a certain extent superseded by know- 
ledge. Suppose that, according to the probabili- 
ties, the eldest hand, on looking at his cards, 
should find that he was short of trumps, and, 
moreover, held a weak suit hand. Here ensues 
a new set of probabilities. Being certainly short 
of trumps, the probabilities that the others are 
long in that suit are increased by the amount of 



36 : 


: 166 


: 46 


36 : 


: 166 


: 46 


58 : 


: 166 


: 74 



132 WINNING WHIST 

the eldest hand's average percentage, to be ap- 
portioned, approximately, according to the origi- 
nal chances of the others, i.e., second and third 
hands each 36 in 100 times, dealer 58. The sum 
of these numbers, 36, 36, and 58, is 130, and the 
entire probability of long trump suits is 166 in 
100 deals. Hence the following proportions : 

Second hand 130 

Third hand 130 

Dealer 130 

166 

It thus appears that the dealer's chance of 
holding a long trump suit, so far as the eldest 
hand may know, is now 74 in 100, and that of 
each of the two others 46 in 100 ; or, as chances 
are ordinarily but deceptively reckoned, nearly 
3 to 1 that the dealer holds a long trump suit, 
and a trifle less than an even chance that either 
of the other two does. There is, however, after 
the deal, nothing in the nature of chance about 
it. The several players either do or do not hold 
the suits named. But, by playing upon the as- 
sumption that the calculated probabilities are 
certainties, in a hundred, a thousand, or an infi- 
nite number of instances, that assumption should 
be verified in a greater or less majority of the 
total number of times ; and the greater that total 
number, the more certain such verification. 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 



133 



The chances pertaining to the holding of the 
long plain suits have now, after the deal, been 
affected by the known status of the eldest hand 
and the accordingly changed probabilities con- 
cerning the trump suit. Should the eldest hand 
now lead from a short suit, the probabilities that 
the other hands may be long in the same are as- 
certained and indicated in the following table. 
The total probable number of long suits of each 
kind is 166 in 100 deals ; so, too, of the whole 
number of long suits in each hand. 



LONG SUITS. 


Players. 


Trump 
Suits. 

Trump 
Suits. 

Plain 

Suits. 


Plain Suits. 


Dealer 


166 - 74 = 92 


332 . 


92 : : 166 . 


46 




Second hand 


166 - 46 = 120 


a32 : 


120 : : 166 : 


60 


Third hand 


166 - 46 = 120 


332 : 


120 : : 166 : 


60 


Total 


166 332 


166 





It is thus made to appear that in 100 deals, 
when the eldest hand was short of trumps, a 
short-suit lead would present better than an even 
chance of leading through a long suit in the 
hand of the second player j precisely the same 



134 WINNING WHIST 

chance of finding the third player long of the 
suit, and a slightly less (though still better than 
even) chance of leading up to a short suit in the 
hand of the dealer, the respective chances being 
60, 60, and (100—46) = 54 in 100. The only 
special danger for this lead is that of leading up 
to the best suit of its kind in the hand of the 
dealer ; the chance of leading up to a tenace, or 
second-best guarded, being shared in common 
with the long-suit lead. It appears from the 
above table that, under the circumstances speci-' 
fled, the dealer should be long of the suit led 
about 46 times in 100. As about 60 per cent, of 
all long suits are best long suits, the dealer should 
hold the best of the suit so led by the eldest hand 
about 60 per cent, of those 46 times, or about 28 
times in 100, this adverse chance being precisely 
the same as that previously ascertained for suc- 
cess of the long-suit play under like circum- 
stances. Should the third hand possess the 
necessary minimum of trump strength to adopt 
the long-suit game upon getting a lead, his 
chance for success would be a trifle better than 
60 in 100. For the rest, he has been given as 
good an opportunity for getting the lead, and 
put into as good position for using to the best 
advantage whatever strength he may chance to 
have, as was possible to his partner. 

Should the third player capture the first trick, 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 



135 



being short of trumps himself, a new set of 
chances comes in. The eldest hand and his 
partner both being short of trumps, it is evident 
that length in that suit must be divided between 
the dealer and his partner, and in 100 deals would 
probably be distributed about as follows : 



LONG TRUMP SUITS. 


166 - 4 = 162 


120 : 74 : : 162 : 100 


Dealer. 


74 + 46 = 120 


120 : 46 : : 162 : 62 


Second hand. 



The four long suits, deducted from the fidl 
probability, 166, are one each from the four 
combinations of three long suits each, which 
would probably occur in 100 deals, but are here 
incompatible with the terms of the proposition, 
according to which both the eldest hand and his 
partner are short of trumps. 

Should the holder of the third hand take the 
first trick in his partner's original short-suit lead, 
being himself short of trumps, but long of the 
suit originally led, another new set of probabili- 
ties would arise. It is now known that the first 
and third players are short of trumps, and that 
the first is short, and the third long, of the suit 
originally led ; it has also been found probable 
that the long trump suits, wlien the first and 



136 



WINNING WHIST 



third players are short, will be divided between 
the dealer and his partner in about the propor- 
tion of 100 to 62. The third player, being sup- 
posed constantly long in the suit led, would in 
100 deals hold such long suit 100 times. 

These, as indicated in the table of General 
Distribution, probably represent 38 times when 
one long and three short suits only are extant, 
58 times when two long suits are out at the same 
time, and 4 times when three long suits are out- 
standing at once. The 38 single long suits give 
no trouble ; the 58 duplicates should be divided 
between the dealer and his partner in the pro- 
portion of their capacity, and the surplus suits 
of the four other combinations necessarily 
equally; making a total of dealer, 26, and sec- 
ond hand, 40, the results being arrived at as fol- 
lows: 



166 - 63 = 104 


170 


104 : 


: 66 : 40 


Second hand. 


166-100= 66 


170 . 


66 : 


: 66 : 26 


Dealer. 


170 







If the third player now returns a short-suit 
lead, it is evidently highly probable that the eld- 
est hand will be long of that suit. Assuming 
that he is so, in 100 deals the most probable dis- 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 



137 



tribution of long suits is, in like manner, 100, 
41, and 25, for the eldest hand, the second hand, 
and dealer, respectively. Assuming these prob- 
abilities to be certainties, it might similarly be 
made to appear that the remaining long suits 
would probably be distributed between the eld- 
est, second, and third hands, and the dealer, in 
the proportions respectively of 64, 23, 64, 15. 
All this is, of course, only rough-and-ready ap- 
proximation, concerning which Carlyle says : ^^ It 
is true, all goes by approximation in this world ; 
with any not insupportable approximation we 
must be patient." 

The approximations at which we have just ar- 
rived may be tabulated as foUows : 



LONG SUITS. 


Players. 


t 


Plain Suits. 


-3 
1 


Kldpat, hand. 








100 


64 


164 




Second hand 


62 


40 


41 


23 


166 




Third hando 





100 





64 


164 




Dealer 


100 


26 


25 


15 


166 




Total 


163 


166 


166 


166 


660 





138 WINNINa WHIST 

Should the eldest hand and his partner (the 
first and third players) be short of trumps and 
likewise of the suit originally led, the probabili- 
ties are changed in accordance with the known 
facts. The distribution of the long trump suits 
would be as above, while the long suits of the 
original lead would be divided between the 
same players (dealer and partner), but in re- 
versed proportions— second hand, 100, and 
dealer, 62. Should third hand take the trick 
and return a short-suit lead, there is evidently a 
very high degree of probabihty that the eldest 
hand will be long therein. Assuming the fact, 
in 100 deals the eldest hand would be constantly 
long and the remaining long suits of that kind 
divided between the second hand and dealer 
equally, 33 each. These probabilities, if as- 
sumed as facts, would indicate that the long 
suits of the remaining plain suit would be ap- 
portioned in the proportions of 100 to thii'd 
hand, 62 to the eldest, and 2 each to the others. 
These results, arranged in their order, constitute 
one more table, being the last. The probabihties 
therein set forth evidently apply to very improb- 
able hands. It is, however, probable that, at 
times, the improbable will happen ; and it there- 
fore becomes necessary to compute and com- 
municate the probabilities applying to these 
improbabilities. With this perhaps unnecessary 
preamble the table itself is submitted. 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 



139 



LONG SUITS. 


Players. 


s 


Plain Suits. 


H 


Eldest hand 








100 


62 


162 


Second liand 


62 


100 


33 


2 


197 




Third hand 











100 


100 




Dealer 


100 


62 


33 


2 


197 




Total 


162 


162 


166 


166 


656 



The preceding tables and calculations are pre- 
sented not as means for ascertaining the proba- 
ble contents of any particular hand or combina- 
tion of hands, but for the purpose of indicating 
approximately, under the stated circumstances, 
the probable distribution of long suits (trump 
and plain) in an infinite number of deals. 

It may be well to sum up past progress before 
making a further advance. It has been shown 
in a previous chapter that chance or probabiUty 
offers no guidance for the playing of specific 
hands as such, but only as parts of a system. 

Cavendish has been cited as authority for the 
proposition that ^^at starting the Doctrine of 
Probabilities is the only guide; while, as the 
hand advances, each player is able, with more 



140 WINNING WHIST 

or less certainty, to draw inferences as to the 
position of some of the remaining cards.'' 

Messrs. Cavendish and Clay have been quoted 
on the point that, in cases of demonstrated ex- 
treme weakness, the original lead should be 
made from a weak suit. 

Dr. Pole's data have been introduced to show 
the relative average or probable weakness of the 
eldest hand and partner, as compared with the 
dealer and partner. 

Derivative data have been used to indicate 
that, when the eldest hand is himself short of 
trumps, it is contrary to probability to assume 
that his partner is strong therein, or that the 
long-suit play can be successfully adopted. 

It has been modestly, even diffidently, claimed, 
because of these premises, that the original lead 
of the eldest hand, when weak in trumps, should 
generally be from a weak plain suit; and that, 
in the absence of evidence to the contrary, such 
a lead should always be inferred by the partner, 
who, if himself weak in trumps, should, on win- 
ning a trick, generally return a lead from a 
similar, but in no case the same, suit. 

The only point of difference herein with 
Messrs. Cavendish and Clay is this : If the weak- 
or short-suit system constitutes the best defence 
against overwhelming strength in trumps, then 
(in the opinion of the writer) it should be adopted 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 141 

whenever partial knowledge and probability unite 
in indicating the superior strength of the adver- 
saries, before the weak hands are further weak- 
ened by a losing contest, *and without wasting 
leads from a weak hand. Playing this system 
under such circumstances has been shown to 
promise a threefold probability of resulting 
advantage. 

If the short-suit leads are thus adopted, the 
question next arising is, What card should ori- 
ginally be led from such a suit f On this point 
is quoted Clay, whom, in his lifetime, Cavendish 
styled ^Hhe greatest of living Whist-play ers,'' 
^' the most brilliant player of his day." Clay com- 
mences his chapter on ^^ The Lead " as follows : 

In leading from two cards lead the higher. A lead from 
a queen or knave and one small card is not objectionable, 
if you have a miserably weak hand or one in which all the 
other suits are manifestly disadvantageous ; your queen 
or knave may be valuable to your partner. But the lead 
from king and one small card can hardly ever be forced 
on you, and is only justifiable when your partner has in- 
dicated by the cards he has thrown away that this is his 
strong suit, or when, to save or win the game, it is clear 
that he must be strong in the suit. The ace and one small 
card can also scarcely ever be an advantageous lead 
unless under similar circumstances. 

In leading from three cards lead the highest. Avoid, 
however, leading from the king or the queen with two 
small cards of the suit. The cases are very rare when 
either of the^e leads can be forced on you. With nothing 



142 WINNING WHIST 

else to do, and without any indication from your partner, 
you will be right to lead the lowest card ; but when he 
has shown you that this is his strongest suit, you will 
generally be right in leading the highest. Avoid also 
leading from king, queea, and one small card. If this 
suit is led elsewhere, you will generally make both 
your king and your queen, unless the ace is to your 
left, and sometimes even then. Whereas, if you lead 
the suit and the ace is against you, you can only make 
one trick. 

A lead from queen, knave, and one small card, or knave, 
ten, and one small card, is not bad when you have no 
better suit. 

The lead from ace and two small cards is rarely advis- 
able. The ace is better kept to bring in your strong suit. 
If forced on you, the lead is from the lowest card. 

Under the prevailing system of American 
Leads, tlie lead of knave, ten, or nine from the 
head of a short snit is most easily recognized as 
such. 

As every advantage should be taken of tenace 
and finesse, suits headed by a major or minor 
fourchette should rarely be led from a weak 
hand. Hence it might even happen that (with 
one plain suit headed, say, by ace, queen, and 
another by king, knave) the original lead of a 
singleton might become a matter of necessity. 
In the case under consideration it would be little 
likely of itself to do serious harm, and might 
well result in a successful finesse and the ulti- 
mate making of a small trump. Such a lead is 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 143 

generally, however, even less commendable in 
the short- than in the long-suit play. 

Finesse may and should be freely practised in 
this play, as the suit led is not partner's strong 
one, and successful finesse is an element essential 
to the success of our system. As has been before 
stated, a short-suit lead is really a lead for part- 
ner, and he is fully justified in treating the suit 
as his own. 

Matthews says, ^^ The best leads are from se- 
quences of three cards or more." With such a 
sequence of honors the prospect of forcing the 
strong trump hand might be sufficiently good to 
render its play advisable. At the worst, partner 
need not be deceived to a -greater extent than 
concerning one small card. 

In order to assist the player in determining 
(in doubtful cases and plain suits) the nature of 
the lead, the following suggestions are offered : 

If, when king is led, you can locate both ace 
and queen, a short suit is indicated; so, when 
queen is led, if you can locate both king and 
knave ; when knave is led, if you can locate both 
king and queen ; when ten is led, if you can locate 
either king or knave ; and when nine is led, if you 
can locate the ace, the ten, or the queen and knave. 

Dr. Bond Stowe is credited with the author- 
ship of the following excellent rules applying to 
the low-card leads : 



144 WINNING WHIST 

If you can place all the cards from the one led to the 
ten inclusive, the lead is forced. 

If you can place all the cards from the one led to the nine 
inclusive, and can also locate the ace, the lead is forced. 

If you can place all the cards but one, from the one led 
to the ten inclusive, and can also locate the queen and 
knave, the lead is forced. 

Apropos to the present subject, Matthews again 
suggests : '^ If your partner shows a weak game, 
force him whether or not you are otherwise en- 
titled to do it.'' 

Discards should follow the general rule that 
when the trump suit is adverse they should be 
made from the best-protected suit, and guards 
be kept on those of the adversaries. 

Caution should be exercised in originally lead- 
ing trumps from only five. The dealer is to be 
feared. 

*^ Good old Matthews," as Clay styles him, offers 
the following emphatic suggestion : 

With a strong hand in trumps, particularly if you have 
a long suit, avoid ruffing, and still more over-ruffing, your 
right-hand adversary as much as possible. . . . This is a 
maxim less understood, less practised, and more indispen- 
sably necessary than almost any other. 

Adherence to the first part of this maxim by 
the eldest hand preserves the strength of that 
hand ; observance of the second does the like, 
and, in addition, relatively weakens the dealer. 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 145 

who, until the contrary is proved, should be con- 
sidered the holder of the adverse strong trump 
hand. 

The original opposing elements of the game 
are the deal and the lead, named in the order 
of their relative importance, concerning which 
Matthews must once more be cited as an au- 
thority. Of the deal, but with special reference 
to the score by honors and the dealer's advantage 
therein, he says : 

This is so decided an advantage, where five is the num- 
ber to be played for [at Short Whist], that I am confident 
two bad players with the first deal in every game would 
in a long run beat the two best in England. 

It is true that in the American game honors 
are not scored, but the holding of honors is no 
obstacle to the taking of tricks. On this point 
is introduced Lord Henry Bentinck, whom Cav- 
endish mentions as a player of the past genera- 
tion of high repute. He was the originator of 
the Call for Trumps. The following is from Cav- 
endish's ^^ Card-table Talk": 

It may be interesting to record Lord Henry's opinion of 
the comparative values of the scores of three and four at 
Short Whist. 

To non-players it may be premised that there are many 
who prefer the score of three to that of four, because at 
three honors can be counted, but at four they cannot. On 
the question being discussed before Lord Henry, he epi- 



146 WINNING WHIST 

grammatically observed, "• I have yet to learn that holding 
three honors is any bar to winning the odd trick." 
This puts the whole case in a nutshell. 

To the eldest hand, when weak in trumps, 
probability clearly indicates that the dealer and 
his partner preponderate in the trump suit, and 
himself and partner in the plain suits. It be- 
hooves him, then, to promptly avail himself to 
the utmost of this element of strength, together 
with the only other available to him, that of posi- 
tion. Both are most probably effected by the 
short-suit lead. If his partner manifests trump 
strength no particular harm need have been done 
by the original lead. It did not, it is true, de- 
clare the strongest suit, but it did indicate a 
weak one ; and the partner, after considering his 
own hand, should thereupon be able to deter- 
mine the leader's best suit with a considerable 
degree of accuracy. It is true that the chances 
are about two to one all around against the 
original lead under such circumstances hitting 
the third player's longest plain suit ; but they do 
favor either that result or the finding of one of 
two strong suits in that hand, besides the fa- 
vorable probabilities concerning the other two 
hands. 

Whoever (in the absence of knowledge) plays 
contrary to probability plays against himself. 
Probability indicatin g weakness, weakness should 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 147 

be assumed unless the contrary is manifested. 
For the eldest hand and his partner weakness 
should be assumed unless the contrary is indi- 
cated ; for the dealer and his partner strength 
may be assumed. For the strong hands, the open 
game ; strength may be published to the board. 
For the weak, a concealed game ] the details of 
weakness ought not to be made known, as that 
should result to the advantage of the adversarieSo 
For the eldest hand and partner, generally the 
short-suit game of tenace and finesse, with its 
absence of specific information concerning the 
precise number and denomination of the cards 
held. For the dealer and partner, the play of the 
strong hand, the long-suit game, with its fulness 
of information, leading up to a possible brilliant 
final coup, one of the chief purposes of that play. 
Here, again, such coups generally can only be 
played by the strong. Hence the unanimous 
shaping of the game with reference to such a 
possible (not probable) termination is obviously 
to the disadvantage of the weaker hands. It 
affords but a sad satisfaction to be able to see 
how such a coup might be effected when lacking 
the strength to make the knowledge effectual; 
still sadder to know that you have aided your 
opponents to make one. The short-suit player 
should, however, have the best of the informa- 
tion, as, in addition to that furnished by his op- 



148 WINNING WHIST 

ponents, he knows the contents of his own hand, 
from which data he shonld be able, toward the 
close of the play, to infer, with more or less cer- 
tainty, the cards held by his partner. The adop- 
tion by the eldest hand and partner of this sys- 
tem would, from the resulting comparative lack 
of information furnished by them, place a de- 
cided obstacle in the way of the achieving of the 
final coup by the long-suit adversaries, thus de- 
priving them of some of their advantage and 
consequently rendering more nearly equal the 
respective chances of the deal and the lead. 

The following extract from a comparatively 
recent communication in ^' Whist,'' names being 
omitted, affords an amusing confirmation of the 
correctness of the intimation that the general 
adoption of the conventional system of giving 
information is essential to the full success of that 
system, the information necessarily inuring to 
the benefit of strength combined with skill : 

Have you heard of that famous match game at Progres- 
sive Duplicate Whist played at the Club a short time 

since ? , , , and other celebrities were guests — 

twenty-four players in all, and all of them good Whisters, 
except one pair which filled in to accommodate. Of this pair 
one is a very moderate player ; the other is so ignorant of 
the game as not to know the commonest leads, nor even 
the meaning of a signal. This jpair icon the matchj gaining 
the highest number of points over all others. There is 
nothing like the Duplicate as a conclusive test of skill ! 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 149 

Despite the apparent belief of ^^ Whist's'^ cor- 
respondent that something akin to a miracle had 
been effected in behalf of those whom he clearly- 
considered ^^ duffers/' the reason for the unex- 
pected result is quite obvious. The ^^ duffers'' 
played Whist, essentially a simple game, accord- 
ing to their ability. The others played " in- 
formation/' which is very intricate and intensely 
scientific, against them. The ^^ duffers" may 
have been able to profit somewhat by the in- 
formation proffered by their opponents, who 
were evidently puzzled and defeated by the lack 
of it in the play of the accommodating " duffers." 

The short-suit system, then, according to the 
probabilities, affords the best opportunities for 
utilizing whatever of strength may be available 
to the weak hands. It furnishes the minimum 
of information to the adversaries, thus reducing 
their chances and rendering more difficult their 
game, while not concealing from an attentive 
and observant partner anything which it is ne- 
cessary that he should know. It does not con- 
travene either of those excellent maxims of al- 
most universal application : 1. ^^ Never play your 
adversary's game." 2. ^^ Never play a strong 
game with a weak hand, or vice versaP 

But it may be objected that this system 
(which, if adopted as such, is not open to the 
objection of being irregular or misleading) 



150 WINNING WHIST 

would interfere with and abrogate that close 
communion and intimate partnership between 
partners which is propounded as the foundation 
and keystone of the modern scientific play. A 
moment's reflection should show such a conten- 
tion to be unfounded. By this system, accord- 
ing to the Doctrine of Probabilities, each player 
proffers to his partner an opportunity to conduct 
the strength of his own hand under the most 
favorable circumstances and according to his 
own best skill and judgment. An example of 
the loftiest ideal of human conduct ! Altruism 
applied to Whist ! 

The long-suit game owes much of its favor 
among experts to these two facts : a weak part- 
ner, confining himself uniformly to that method, 
can do but little harm, while his strict adherence 
to that system, with the exaggerated amount of 
information thereby conveyed, enables the su- 
perior player on occasion to play both hands in- 
stead of one. Upon this point Clay expresses 
himself thus : 

Let him [the beginner] play for a time— it may be a 
year— rigidly according to rule, and he will then be in a 
position to seize the occasions on which rule should be 
departed from. In the mean time he will have amused 
himself to little if any disadvantage, and the fine player 
will scarcely have asked for a better partner than one 
who, by careful attention to rule, has given to him every 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 151 

possible indication of the position of the cards, and has 
enabled him, so to speak, to play twenty-six cards instead 
of thirteen. 

Another reason for the general agreement of 
the English authorities is this: Whist is pri- 
marily an English game, and the first known codi- 
fication of its rules, about 1728, commenced with, 
"Lead from the strong suit.'^ Apart from the 
unquestionable merits of this system, here may 
be found a potent factor in its perpetuation. 
For, aside from that wonderfully enlightened 
nation of the East, China, there is none wherein 
the veneration for established authority and 
time-honored institutions is so thoroughly in- 
grained as a national characteristic as in Eng- 
land. The coffee-house players, in 1728, said, 
" Lead from the strong suit.'' Cavendish, in his 
edition of 1893, says, "Lead originally from 
your strongest suit.'' And, despite his pro- 
pounding of the proposition, " At starting the 
Doctrine of Probabilities is the only guide," he 
perhaps unconsciously hedges against a claim 
for the uniform application of that rule by sug- 
gesting that "the conclusion that the chances 
are in favor of a certain line of play is not ar- 
rived at by abstract calculation, but by general 
reasoning, confirmed by the accumulated experi- 
ence of practised players." In all other like 
games, and lines of play in Whist, experience 



152 WINNING WHIST 

only confirms the result of correctly calculated 
probabilities. It is hoped that the short-suit 
play, as here advocated, will not prove itself a 
liisits naturce by being the solitary exception to 
the general rule. To the rest is opposed the 
opinion of La Place, ^^ Une approximation de ce 
genre, lorsqu^elle est bien conduite, est ton jours 
preferable aux raisonnements les plus specieux." 

The principal development of the game with- 
in the past one hundred and sixty years has 
been in the direction of publishing to the board 
by conventional play fuller, and still fuller, in- 
formation concerning the contents of the respec- 
tive hands. The same rate of progress, hereafter, 
for the same length of time in the same direction, 
might not improbably result in the cards being 
originally exposed upon the table in front of each 
player and played from that position. The re- 
sulting game would be highly scientific, com- 
paratively simple, and undoubtedly enjoyable; 
but, as the charge of the Light Brigade was pro- 
nounced magnificent, but not war, so that game 
of full and open information, whatever else it 
might have to recommend it, would not be 
Whist ; and the present generation of players, 
should they then return to earth, would have 
much to learn and much to forget. 

The play here suggested for the non-dealing 
partners, when weak in trumps, is no departure 



PLAY OF THE ELDEST HAND 153 

from, but rather a return toward, the best 
methods of the earlier masters of the game as 
developed by Clay, " the most brilliant player of 
his day." It provides a point for compromise 
and union between the contending schools of 
long-suit and short-suit players^ reducing all to 
a comprehensive system ; and in its most radical 
interpretation it consists merely in the more ex- 
tended application of the universally accepted 
principle that when the facts are unknown prob- 
ability should guide. Its general adoption would, 
it is respectfully contended, render the game a 
harmonious whole, would double its fascination, 
and would add to the admirable system of 
American Leads, as a component part of the es- 
tablished American Game, a complement in a 
system of American Play. 



CHAPTER XI 

FINALLY 

The mastery of the preceding chapters wiU 
enable the reader, with sufficient practice, to 
play Whist acceptabty in the best Whist society. 
That, however, like other "best society,'^ is 
limited in its membership and hence not always 
and everywhere attainable. One conspicuous 
difference between the man of the world and 
the man who is not is adaptability. He who has 
truly " seen life '^ has learned that human nature 
is the same in all essentials everywhere and al- 
ways ; that the points of difference are merely 
matters of bent and finish; and, having learned 
thus much, he has acquired the art of adapting 
himself, more or less completely, to the specific 
company in which he happens to find himself. 
If he is wise in his generation he will know that 
the various grades of humanity, as a Southern 
Congressman once said of those of whiskey, are 

154 



FINALLY 155 

all good, but some kinds are better than others. 
This apphes, in all its fulness, to all systems of 
Whist play. If they amount to systems they are 
alike in their essential features ; and in Whist, 
as in matters of vastly greater moment, there is 
a world of sound sense in this maxim : '^ In es- 
sentials, unity ; in non-essentials, liberty 5 in all 
things, charity." 

Before the days of Hoyle the rules for play 
had been summarized as follows : " Lead from 
the strong suit, study your partner's hand, and 
attend to the score." Here are expressed the 
essentials of Whist ; all the rest are matters of 
detail. It is, however, true that a full, accurate, 
and critical knowledge of details, coupled with 
capacity to make use of it, marks the master in 
all matters of business, work, or play. It is like- 
wise true that masters are few and journeymen 
many. Let us add to the original rule one im- 
portant exception and a few brief maxims. This 
is the exception : 

Unless the eldest hand holds at least four 
trumps, headed by the ten or better, he should 
lead originally from his most advantageous weak 
plain suit ; and his partner, unless possessing at 
least that minimum of trump strength, should 
adopt the same line of play, each leading from 
his own weakness to his partner's probable 
strength in the endeavor to establish a see-saw 



156 WINNING WHIST 

in plain suits, likewise taking every advantage 
of finesse and tenace. 

The maxims are as follows : 

Always lead trumps from five or more. 

Always return partner's trump lead and an- 
swer his call. 

Generally lead trumps from four after your 
own or your partner's suit is established. 

Lead trumps to stop a cross-ruff. 

Always make the trump signal and echo when 
proper and practicable. 

Never force your partner to trump, unless he 
is weak or you are strong in trumps, or unless 
the resulting trick saves or wins the game, or in 
playing for the odd trick, or establishing an evi- 
dent cross-ruff. 

In plain long suits : 

Never originally lead the ace, except from a 
suit of five or more, or from ace, queen, knave, 
four, or more. 

Never so lead the king, except from a sequence 
and a suit of four exactly. 

Never so lead the queen, except from a sequence 
with king (with or without ace) in a suit of five 
or more, or from queen, knave, ten, four, or 
more. 

Never so lead the knave, except from a sequence 
with king and queen (with or without ace) in a 
suit of five or more. 



FINALLY 157 

Never so lead the ten, except from king, knave, 
ten, four, or more. 

Except in the excepted cases, originally lead 
fourth-best. 

Do not unnecessarily change your suit, except 
sometimes when weak in trumps and holding a 
singleton. 

In partner's suit return him the higher of any 
two or the lowest of any three or more thereof 
remaining in hand. 

If you have a strong suit of your own, better 
lead it once before returning partner's. 

Unblock in your partner's suit ; retain what 
strength you can in your opponents'. 

In short plain suits : 

In such suits known to be your partner's best, 
lead from the highest downward. 

Otherwise retain the strength, if any, in your 
own hand, being especially careful not to open 
a suit containing best and third-best or second- 
and fourth-best, except as a matter of necessity. 

If the adversaries commence by drawing the 
trumps, seek to establish the see-saw in plain 
suits. 

In tramps : 

With more than three but less than seven 
trumps (unless with at least three honors or king, 
queen, ten), lead fourth-best; otherwise as in 
plain suits, except lead knave from a head se- 



158 WINNING WHIST 

quence of knave, ten, nine. With but three or 
less, lead from the highest down. 

If weak in trumps, make small ones when you 
can ; seek to establish a cross-ruff when practi- 
cable. 

If to the points above specified be added the 
full system of American Leads, together Tvdth 
the ability to so profit by them as to correctly 
locate all the important cards unplayed of the 
last six in the several hands, with the further 
ability to so adapt the play to the known posi- 
tion of the cards at any stage of the game as to 
make the utmost number of tricks possible to 
the conjoined hands, nothing further is lacking 
but that genius which Matthews says is neces- 
sary for acquiring "the whole finesse of the 
game." 

Without the ability to profit by the informa- 
tion to be derived from the purely signaling 
leads, those leads are useless, if not worse, as 
possibly conveying valuable information to the 
opponents instead of partner. "Information" 
chiefly benefits the superior player and strong 
hand. To fully profit by such information a 
thorough understanding of position, tenace, and 
finesse is necessary, as well as of the various 
tricks and stratagems of actual play. Because 
of this the players of the "old school'^ were 
wont to insist that " Whist cannot be learned 



FINALLY 159 

from books." That is true; but it is equally- 
true that it caunot be thoroughly learned with- 
out them. Theory and practice are alike indis- 
pensable. 

When your partner cannot play up to your 
level you must play down to his, making as 
much as you can out of your own hand, and re- 
membering with resignation that, while an ex- 
tended chain is no stronger than its weakest link, 
it is frequently possible, by looping and ^^ fid- 
ding," to keep the strain from that link. If your 
partner is a superior player, follow ; if inferior, 
lead ; if equal, average it up with him. 

Perhaps an unusual amount of attention has 
been given throughout to the ^^ personal equa- 
tion.'^ If so, it must have been for the reason 
that it has seemed, aside from a few essential 
principles and practices, the most important 
factor in solving the old, yet ever new, problem 
of playing winning Whist. And here the writer 
will respectfully and regretfully take leave of 
the reader in wishing him, if not " a youth of 
frolics, an old age of cards," yet " a clear fire, a 
clean hearth, and the rigor of the game." 



